#i will definitely elaborate and connect these points more clearly in my whole review

[tenshindon]

Hi :)

just some quick stuff ‘bout Yamcha and Bulma’s relationship in the manga under the cut

So I was going to save this for until after I watched the anime too but I mean that’s not going to be for a while- plus I just wanted to share what little things I ended up finding.

And when I say little things I’m not exaggerating the slightest; Yamcha and Bulma seldom appear together in the same scene, let alone even talk to or about each other. When I was getting ready to start my note taking, I actually had a number of colored tabs I wanted to attribute to specific things I found:

Blue tabs would be for anytime Bulma did or said something questionable

Green tabs would be for anytime Bulma did or said something nice/sweet

Orange tabs would be for anytime Yamcha did or said something questionable

Yellow tabs would be for anytime Yamcha did or said something nice/sweet

And throughout five-and-a-half 3-1 volumes? I only used 8, which is definitely foreshadowing how much different the anime is going to be from the manga as I can already think of at least three more scenarios involving these two.

Nevertheless, on to what I actually found. I’m going to elaborate on my thought process on all the scenes afterwards. Points with asterisks next to them mean I’m relatively indecisive as whether what they did was good, bad, or neutral.

*The first yellow tab goes to Yamcha when he reunites with Krillin and Goku at the first tournament of the series. In the specific manga I have, Yamcha mentions that Bulma was “bugging” him about how long hair was no longer in fashion in the city, so he either cut his hair himself or let Bulma cut it so it would be short.

The second tab is a blue tab about a chapter or two later when Yamcha and Jackie Chun are about to start their match, to which Bulma’s already wondering if Chun is attractive. Oolong makes a point to bring up her relationship with Yamcha, to which she retorts with “I can look, can’t I?” After Jackie Chun steps out and it’s discovered he’s an old man, Bulma is immediately disappointed and decides to cheer for Yamcha instead.

The third tab is a blue tab again; when Goku visits Bulma to have the dragon radar repaired, Panchy comments on Bulma and Yamcha’s tumultuous relationship and how Bulma was jealous of Yamcha’s popularity with girls. At that, Bulma gets upset and pledges to accompany Goku on his quest to find the Dragon Balls- either to wish for a better boyfriend, or to coincidentally find a new boyfriend while hunting for them

The fourth tab is- again, a blue tab, where Bulma openly (and honestly aggressively) flirts with General Blue as he and the Red Ribbon army pursue them for the Dragon Ball. When Blue rejects her, she doesn’t persist but rather remarks that he’s probably not attracted to girls if he wasn’t attracted to her. Later on, in an attempt to save her life, she again tries to seduce him- more so for strategic purposes this time.

Tab number five and blue tab number four happens after Yamcha just barely escapes death from fighting Bandages. While Krillin, Goku, Upa, and Puar fret over Yamcha’s safety, Bulma remarks that the fight was pathetic and Bandages was already damaged (though Krillin’s quick to point out his wrappings weren’t because he was hurt).

Things start to turn up on Bulma’s part with a couple of green tabs; as Yamcha is prepared to fight Tien, Bulma’s fairly excited to see him come out on stage. *The next tab I decided to note was Bulma covering her eyes right before Tien breaks Yamcha’s leg, and the final tab goes to her being the first person to exclaim that she would be following Yamcha to the hospital.

I actually used a purple tab for this next one since it didn’t fit either yellow or orange. It’s a small thing too as neither character actively does anything to warrant it, as for the first time in the character biographies at the beginning of the books, Yamcha is described as “Bulma’s on-and-off boyfriend.”

The last tab is one more blue tab that comes as a result of Bulma fawning over Goku’s growth and how much he had changed. Oolong solidifies that she’s head-over-heels for him by calling her a “fickle wench.”

OK discussion time class :)

1.) I put this act as questionable because I wasn’t sure if Yamcha cut his hair for Bulma’s sake or because he wanted to fit in to the aesthetic of city life and just followed Bulma’s advice. But considering he generally preferred to have longer hair for the majority of Dragon Ball/Z/Super, I’m going to wager and say he was willing to change his appearance for Bulma.

2.) So far, Bulma and Yamcha had been dating for around one year and at this point Bulma’s already prepared to ogle other men. I have a couple points I want to make on Bulma and her perception of men but I’m going to save that for The Bigger Analysis.

3.) We have no idea how Yamcha behaves around these other girls as there’s never an indication he reciprocates their affection or just ignores them, but either way trying to replace your boyfriend like he’s a used-up car is pretty bad. We can assume Yamcha doesn’t react positively to the attention considering he never positively comments on any woman in the series- Bulma included.

4.) This one’s pretty self explanatory; I don’t really need to explain this. I’ll try to give Bulma some leeway and say she and Yamcha were on a break as Panchy points out they were fighting, but “fighting” is not the same as “being on break,” never mind it is actually never explicitly stated or implied that the two go on a mutual break. The most prominent existence of a break exists in Yamcha leaving to train at Korin Tower and to train alone.

5.) Bulma doesn’t offer an ounce of care at the fact Yamcha was literally hanging over death and even insults his capability as a fighter while his friends do all the worrying for her. For someone who’s supposed to be your lover and partner, Bulma doesn’t really show any concern for Yamcha’s safety.

6.) Bulma’s actually being a supportive girlfriend during the Tien saga which was a nice relief from seeing her being so dismissive- this is the first time she’s actually cheered for Yamcha in any fight since the first tournament too (every other time, she would collectively congratulate and root for her friends). 

I put an asterisk next to Bulma covering her eyes before Yamcha’s leg is snapped in half because she could have just been scared to see it, but I want to be nice to her and say she didn’t want to see Yamcha get hurt. 

As for Bulma being prepared to go to the hospital with Yamcha, she’s the absolute first one: whether she’s grown since the Bandages fight or it just dawned on her just how much danger Yamcha was in, she now starts to show care and worry over him. This is further shown after Krillin is killed and Yamcha offers to take revenge for him, to which Bulma scolds him- both for the fact he was still recovering from his injury and reminding him of his inability to be able to do anything, and because he was willing to easily add himself to the growing body count started by Piccolo and his children.

7.) Again, no explanation needed. This change in Yamcha’s biography gives clarity on the fact Yamcha and Bulma have taken enough breaks from each other for him to be considered an “on-and-off boyfriend.”

8.) It’s been a while at this point since Bulma’s looked at another man affectionately- both manga duration wise and in-universe time. Still, it reminds the reader that Bulma’s fairly fickle when it comes to men.

Couple extra things I just want to talk about:

Like I said before, Yamcha never looks twice at another woman- he even points out that Chun’s behavior was lecherous towards Ranfan (though this could have just been portrayed so Yamcha could put the pieces together that Roshi and Chun were the same person). Meanwhile Bulma seems to be poised to pick up another man in case things don’t work out between them. I would attribute this to Bulma being young, but she maintains this behavior for years- even into DBZ where she’s in her late-twenties.

As far as we know, Bulma and Yamcha never kiss. At least they don’t kiss for as long as the General Blue saga, as Bulma points out she’s going to die before having her first kiss. Of course, you don’t have to kiss to be dating someone. I just found it a little interesting.

Yamcha attends school by the time he moves to the city with Bulma, and possibly lives with her and her family at Capsule Corp, as Bulma’s easily able to get a hold of him when she calls her dad and asks him to put him on the phone.

The majority of this list comes in the form of Bulma’s flirtatious nature with other men. Aside from that, she and Yamcha are pretty casual with each other, her only other fault being her apathy towards Yamcha against Bandages.

Toriyama’s stated in a Q&A that Bulma was a “harsh and selfish” person.

I’m fairly certain Toriyama’s pointed out he isn’t sure how to write romance and I personally can’t blame him for that: love’s a complicated thing that I don’t even know how to portray.

That’s all I have now. I’ll be back with more notes about the anime’s portrayal of these two. I think I’ll make a post like this one for the anime, then I’ll gather everything I’ve collected and write a big piece about it.

If you have any questions, comments, or just want to talk about this with me feel free to shoot me a message :)

[swimfuel]

okay humanstuck thoughts under the cut

i owe a lot of this to @/rhythmic-idealist's kankri/vantasposting bc holy shit theyve got such a big brain (ill link to their individual posts when im on desktop since im using this to keep all my thoughts straight and i agree with most of what they say wholeheartedly)

general status quo stuff:

signless works in an extremely demanding career involving helping others (i'm leaning towards an attorney who works with organizations and does pro bono work), and is also extensively involved in social justice work outside of his job... he is very rarely home

he loves and cares for his children deeply and tries to express it whenever they're face to face, but the couch in his cramped and messy office has seen far too much use over the years for him to have been able to say it enough

his habits of working himself to the point of exhaustion are handily passed down to his kids btw

the kids had to grow up quickly because signless was out of the house so often and so consistently—kankri, who was already pretty high-strung, has to learn to take care of himself and karkat

they grow up near ms firuzeh maryam, who's their pseudoaunt/grandma (she took in a nine year old kavana vantas when she was about twenty), but they just call her ms rosa

they spent a lot of time in the maryam house growing up, with miss rosa's two nieces. porrim is a year older than kankri, while kanaya and karkat are the same age

kankri grows kinda sensitive to people trying to mother him since it rubs against the notion that he's the "adult of the house" and that he can take care of himself and karkat just fine

(and it also kinda underlines the fact that kankri has no idea what he's doing at the best of times)

and ironically enough, kankri becomes overbearing and naggy towards karkat in his own right, which forestalls them becoming close in any brotherly sort of way

they grow up really just... unable to communicate with one another clearly

karkat develops his ornery exterior in response to kankri's constant stream of opinions and frantic attempts at making up for the presence of a guardian in the house

i think there would actually be some really interesting parallels with rose in this au.. maybe i'm drawing from my own experiences as well but i think he'd begin to assume that every time his brother opens his mouth, he's going to criticize karkat

but instead of reacting like rose with the "making yourself more of a puzzle"/passive aggressive stuff, he gets a more defensive/hackles raised/"argue with you before you can argue with me" approach

and the thing is that they do love each other and would take a bullet for the other etc etc etc.. but they don't know how to express it because they've fallen into these shitty patterns

and it really doesn't help that kankri has grown somewhat resentful of signless over the years... that mix of resentment and fear and love gets more extreme and more polar every time signless gets injured during a political demonstration

i think kankri and signless would also be slightly closer than karkat and signless, as signless' job really only started to ramp up when karkat was less than years old and kankri was in his early double digits

kankri autistic btw its word of god (i am god)

karkat has a pet crab. its name is also karkat. he vents his frustrations to it.

i feel like the vantases exemplify both the best and worst parts of their aspects with one another as well... the strength of their bonds keeps them together and grounded, but TOO grounded. [insert Blood rant here]

the Blood rant:

i define Blood as bonds, responsibility, and the "core". if Life is the fertile soil and everything living on a planet's surface, then Blood is the gravitational core of the planet keeping everything together

i also think Blood, Heart, & Mind work in tandem to define a person just as blood serves to connect the pieces of the human body... Heart is the soul and the self, Mind is the application of one's self through active choices (agency), while Blood defines both the self and the choices one makes in greater detail [and, as an aside, Life provides the physical spark of life needed to keep the heart pumping blood]

OKAY wow that got tangential anyways

SO BASICALLY! too much Blood makes you stagnate, so for example:

kankri is split between staying home with karkat or going to college across the country and being truly unbound for the first time in years

another crisis of Blood: signless is caught between his empathy and responsibility to the whole world and his responsibility to his own children

okay so here's more status quo stuff:

the maryam and vantas kids grow up together and its hilarious because you'll see them all together and its just like (girlboss) (girlboss) (physical manlet) (emotional manlet)

the maryam girls are actually miss rosa's nieces but she took them in when they were both pretty young

the pyropes know the vantases well enough considering pyrope senior and sign have known one another from their respective legal practices for years, but they live on the other side of town

the leijons lived in town when kankri and meulin were very young, but they moved and travelled for a long time before coming back and reestablishing their roots

the captors (psii being one of sign's oldest and closest friends) move into town with the peixes family pretty early on though

the condesce is.. a horrible spouse and guardian, to put it plainly. she's very emotionally manipulative and isn't averse to smacking people around, including her own family. she moves herself and her perfect little family into town so she can properly oversee a new business venture close by

feferi is one of the best young swimmers in the country and has a pretty good shot of getting onto the olympic team.. a lot of this drive to be perfect and to be better results from the condesce's unrelenting pressure and thinly veiled resentment throughout her whole life

so yeah psii, )(ic, feferi, and sollux all live together and it's really not great for anyone involved. (meenah ran away years ago, and crashed on aranea's couch for a pretty long while—mituna moved out with latula for college before psii and the condesce got married)

it gets bad to the point of sollux staying with the maryams for two months while the adults try to sort out that absolute clusterfuck and get the divorce proceedings going (meenah finally convinces feferi to get out and come stay with her and aranea for the duration as well)

in terms of relationships i think latula and porrim were really really close in high school, and probably had some kind of unacknowledged thing going on for a while that never actually turned into anything because latula and mituna were going steady

kankri has had a crush on latula for years but never acted on it for similar reasons

meenah still carries a lot of that give no fucks attitude (it's developed moreso as a defense mechanism here) and can't understand why feferi refuses to leave the condesce with her

okay back to VANTAS MANPAIN i also think that karkat feels the weight of a lot of expectations on his shoulders as well

he feels responsible to live up to the example his dad and his brother set, even if it's to his own detriment—and kankri's oblivious rambling about his grades and his teachers and all his clubs certainly aren't helping the matter

kankri is one of those overinvolved kids taking a million AP's while simultaneously shitting on the collegeboard at every single step

hes this super overachiever anal retentive perfectionist type dude and (just as karkat preemptively criticizes others to forestall their criticisms of him only to harshly criticize himself) kankri subconsciously holds the people around him to the same expectations he holds for himself

so karkat also develops this sense of lacking which, in combination with everything else, culminates in self loathing and thinking he has to solve everyone else's problems and getting horribly mad at himself for every little mistake

GOD i have a lot more but lemme post this before i accidentally close out of the app and lose it all

more little details:

vriska's mom and terezi's mom HATE each other like HATE HATE HATE one another it's so bad

karkat wrote a ten page review of my immortal in middle school

jade is one of nepeta's best online friends

sollux can't raise one eyebrow at a time.. karkat gives him so much grief about it

the vantases eat a lot of shitty renditions of persian dishes until karkat learns to cook because literally the only person in the world with a CHANCE of getting KANKRI VANTAS to make an EDIBLE DISH is miss rosa

kanaya is really good at persian dance too but is VERY VERY embarassed to perform in front of people.. however porrim definitely is not

karkat has insomnia while kankri just stays up stupidly late for assignments that really shouldnt be taken that seriously.. but they both have the same rumination/sleep anxiety thing where your brain goes insane with horrible and depressing scenarios as you try to sleep

and more ideas that i thought were interesting but idk how to fit in the context of this au:

signless and disciple getting married pretty late in life after having been in love for years, the vantases move in with the leijons and karkat suddenly has two sisters

nepeta and karkat are both juniors at this point, meulin is probably in her third year at a local college nearby while kankri is about to start his second year at a university pretty far away

the kids in general honestly but ill figure it out

more random hcs this time with kids:

kanaya and rose get into a flame war online that gradually settles into elaborate courtship rituals

also nepeta + jade online besties

also bec can inexplicably still teleport

the first sbahj movie comes out and the next six months of dave strider junior's high school career are absolute hell

actually hc that dave senior goes by d strider professionally. the d stands for a lot of things

aradia and dave frequent a lot of the same forums but never end up really interacting

meanwhile karkat and john frequent a lot of the same forums and DEFINITELY end up interacting. this turns into grudging (at least on karkat's part) friendship after they find themselves fighting for their lives defending an objectively shitty movie together on the same thread

[hb-pickle]

✏✏ Frozen 2 Manga: Strengths and Weaknesses (Review) ✏✏

🌟🌕🌟I would give the Frozen 2 Manga a 9.2/10!!! (But this score is very very subjective for reasons I will explain now)🌟🌕🌟

You can purchase an online copy of the F2 Manga HERE for $10.99 (It's important to support artist so GO BUY THE BOOK)

Strengths:

+ Art (obviously ♡): Each page and every picture is hyper-detailed and gorgeous. Every scene stays true to the original, but takes creative liberties to give us new angles, interpretations, and expression which makes the book a truly unique experience. I would highly recommend buying this book, solely for art quality alone because it really is that good. Some scenes take up the full page, and are so beautiful that they could genuinely be movie posters, it's that amazing.

+ Songs: For relatively obvious reasons (songs being repetitive, translation problems, page space and time), the manga couldn't re-write each Frozen 2 song word-for-word. So instead they chose to re-write everything into a type of poetic, internal dialogue. I actually like this a lot, and consider it a strength because it gives us a deeper understanding into how the characters feel and what exactly they want/think. Example:

"In this limitless moment, the things that remain constant are precious. This happiness is what we all wish for. This nurtures love." - Some Things Never Change

"I must not be too curious... I cannot risk disturbing the happiness I've finally found." - Into The Unknown

I especially loves these two lines because I think it nicely emphasizes and centers Elsa's empathy with her family, desire to keep them safe, and shows that she cares about their happiness, just like her own.

+ Internal Dialogue: Its few and far between, but the manga adds bits of Elsa's internal dialogue here and there, which really emphasizes/clarifies her feelings, which I really like. Ex: It clearly shows that Elsa is afraid of worrying Anna about the mysterious voice (right before the 2nd lullaby).

+ Retelling of Frozen (2013) by Olaf: This is where the manga took the most creative liberties and it really shines through because the scenes is a lot more funny and creative! There are costume changes and a lot more sparkle and glitter and exaggeration!

- - -

Weaknesses:

+ Neglects several character arcs: A lot of small scenes were removed, so much so that the book completely removes several character's arcs/sevral character's most memorable moments.

This is the biggest drawback of the manga (especially bad for Anna) and is definitely a valid dealbreaker for fans who are/were invested in the non-Elsa characters. One thing I've noticed from fans and non-fans alike, is that people LOVED Anna and deeply resonated with her. People adored her "Next Right Thing" moment, and genuinely resonated with her loss and concerns. But despite her main character role and her beloved status among fans, she is the one who loses most of her character scenes. Because of these scene omissions, her motivations aren't set up and her concerns are downplayed and it's truly a shame.

Just for Anna, they remove:

Anna's conversation with Olaf about change, "fear of nothing being permanent", and "Anna not being scared because she has her family" (in the pumpkin patch).

In the song "Some Things Never Change", Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff parts are removed, so you can only hear the thoughts and feelings of Elsa.

The second half of Anna and Elsa's fight, where Elsa tells Anna she can't come with her to Ahtohallan is gone. So there is no scene of Anna begging to stay and telling Elsa "I just don't want you dying, trying to be everything for everyone else too. Don't do this alone. Let me help you, please."

Anna's desperation to protect Elsa in some scenes is definitely downplayed. Ex: "THAT'S MY SISTER!" scene at the fight with angry gale is gone + Anna running away panicked from Kristoff's 3rd proposal (when she realizes she doesn't know where Elsa is).

The ending half of "The Next Right Thing" is extremely limited, and neglects the original's emphasis on perseverance through the pain, despite feeling lost.  The whole scene is surprisingly short as well, with Anna going through the motions very quickly (unlike the movie, which really dwelled in her pain).

- Kristoff:

In the manga, there is no hint at all that he doubts his relationship with Anna, so that full arc is gone.

His part in 'Some Things Never Change' is gone.

His third proposal attempt (at the dam) is removed

"Lost In The Woods" song / "Reindeers are better Than People" talk with Sven is gone.

Olaf:

His talk with Anna about being scared of change is gone (in the pumpkin patch).

Again, his part in 'Some Things Never Change' is gone.

Olaf's song "When I'm Older" is gone (Which detailed his fear of change and hope that everything will get better).

Olaf and Anna's bonding moment (after Elsa rejects them), where Anna says "you have every right to be angry" is gone/downplayed.

Mattias:

Mattias and Anna's "Next Right Thing" talk is gone.

He never ask Anna about Halima, he never reunites with Halima in Arendelle, and there is no photograph joke.

Ryder:

All three of Ryder's scenes with Kristoff are removed, aka "Some of us have never seen a clear sky", "the Northuldra know the best way to propose!", and the scene where both Kristoff and Ryder talk to reindeer.

This was most definitely because Ryder's character was tied to Kristoff's marriage insecurities, but they decided to remove that element from Kristoff wholesale, so Ryder had nothing.

Honeymaren & Yelena:

During the campfire scene, Elsa and Honeymaren don't sing the small piece of "All Is Found", don't make the joke about lullabies being creepy, and they don't pet the baby reindeer.

There is no scene of Elsa reuniting with Yelena and Honeymaren, telling them "Ahtohallan is beautiful". Honeymaren never ask Elsa to stay in the Enchanted Forest either.

Now don't get me wrong! These characters still have really beautiful art and are present. They have chibis and expressive faces/designs and are a pleasure to look at. They have their own unique scenes and matter and help the story move along, they just take a step down from their original film adaptation.

[I know the list for Anna was really long, but she is still all over the manga acting cute and relatable. I swear. The book is 160 pages long, there is plenty to marvel at.]

+ Whitewashing the Northuldra: The Northuldra are indeed whitewashed (completely white skin on par with Elsa & Anna) and it's very bad. I genuinely don't know why they chose to do this considering Mattias had ALL his melanin. There is not much to say about it, but it is uncomfortable to look at and is a very valid critique on the artist.

- - -

Conclusion / TL;DR:

If you are interested in art/love Frozen 2 fanart, this book definitely delivers on that artistic level. If you just want a pretty and easy retelling, then this book is for you! But if you were especially connected to the roles of Anna and the more minor characters, to the point where their absence might off put you, you may want to sit this one out. I would offer you pretend this book is just elaborate fanart by a huge Elsa stan (so you don't take the absences to heart so much), but the choice is yours.

[therewrites]

We Are Who We Are Overall Thoughts *spoilers*

This review will be discussing briefly some of the episodes so far, so SPOILERS

So I started watching the HBO original series, We Are Who We Are, and I am conflicted. When I initially watched it, the dialogue made it hard for me to enjoy it so I stopped. Then after a couple of weeks after its airing, I thought, what the hell? And this time, I was pleasantly surprised. I always maintain the belief that pilot episodes are either boring, messy, or just bad so I try to push past it in order to get to the good shit. The pilot for We Are Who We Are was...I’m not sure how to explain...different? It certainly wasn’t bad and it made an impression on me, but this show as a whole is hard to limit by just a few words. It’s really something that you should watch and experience yourself.

It was only after the first 3 episodes that I began to understand the tone and mood that Luca Guadagnino was trying to convey. A lot of the time, the dialogue is abrupt and choppy and can make no sense. It can be frustrating, especially when you have two characters that aren’t communicating effectively. But I think that was the point. Guadagnino is a very realistic director, he captures the most realistic elements in a film. A lot of the conversations between characters is meant to emulate real life. Like, what the hell do you say when a conversation becomes awkward? Well, nothing sometimes.

While Guadagnino’s typical cinematography may suggest whimsy, in WAWWA’s case the small structured and synthetic model of the military base is juxtaposed to the very concrete characters. When I started to view the show less as simply a televised airing of fictional characters and problems, and instead looked at them as people, I began to really enjoy it. 

Take the main character of Fraser, played by Jack Dylan Grazer. Fraser is meant to be seen as an extremely complex and troubled kid, but the difference between him and every other teen in a coming-of-age drama is that he isn’t polished. His drinking and drug habit isn’t framed as romantic or beautiful, in fact most of the time it’s portrayed as his weakness of sorts. In the first episode, Fraser has one of his mothers drive him home after getting pretty wasted and Luca graces us with a direct shot of him throwing up. And before that, Fraser is stumbling on a bridge when he drunkenly falls and cuts his face. Everything the character does is messy, uncoordinated, yet extremely real and relatable. Hell, in one shot you can clearly see him do a Naruto run!

Caitlin/Harper is a character that I enjoyed watching, as well. Jordan Seamon did a fantastic job and I really connected with their character. Initially we see Caitlin as this mysterious girl, and in the pilot we are meant to assume that their relationship with Fraser is supposed to develop into a romantic one. This is not the case as it seems that Caitlin is trying to come to terms with who they are. The biggest shift in Caitlin’s character isn’t their friendship with Fraser but probably when they get their period. 

This was a moment that even I related to, even though I am cis when I first got my period I didn’t tell my mom until the day after. The possible confusion and shift in their reality that Caitlin felt was only heightened with the conflict of their boyfriend wanting to be more physically intimate, and Fraser’s eventual discover of Harper. I would have like to see exactly why Fraser seemed drawn to Caitlin. I’m assuming viewers were supposed to think that Fraser is attracted to her, or something. But both Caitlin/Harper and Fraser are queer coded and their respective sexualities are alluded to not being straight. It would’ve made their standing as platonic friends more clear if this had been established stronger. 

I definitely think the writer could have devoted more time to giving certain characters proper conversations. It would’ve given more development to certain characters and better context for things. However even without that, there is a lot that the audience is showed that can’t be told through dialogue. The power struggle between Sarah and Richard being one. So far, there hasn’t been any explanation as to why they have a such a volatile relationship other than Richard being a homophobe. 

Through deeper inspection, I was able to interpret it as: Richard may heavily resent the fact the Sarah was promoted to Colonel and not him. It is never made clear who has the better credentials, Sarah or Richard, but assuming that she was the one promoted it is a safe guess. This may be highlighted by the fact that Sarah is a women, and also gay. Even before episode 7, it was clear that Richard did not respect her authority. I also interpreted it as Richard being upset that and openly gay women was promoted instead of him, a black man. 

Of course this is just based on my own personal knowledge of how the U.S. military can be towards people of color and LGBTQ+. Regardless, the competitive tension between two parents is palpable without needing dialogue to explain.  

When conflict happens, I can kind of figure out which characters are going to react and which one’s will stay silent. I think the show is trying to accomplish a drastically realistic and raw series. It took me while to adjust to it, but by maybe the 2nd or 3rd episode, it starts to grow on you. Despite not liking a good majority of the characters, I was very surprised by how invested I was in them. 

Like, Danny is my least favorite character because he displays very abusive and explosive tendencies, and doesn’t seem to care about the world around him. However, getting glimpses into his character and seeing how Richard ignores him for Caitlin/Harper, his suicidal thoughts, and how he is trying to reclaim his cultural and religious background makes me empathize with him. 

Even though I hate his character, I can see that he is struggling. I appreciate the way that this show freely shows dark skinned black boys dealing with mental health issues, and personal development. Rarely are issues like suicide talked about in the black community, so seeing Danny talk about it and Craig offering(admittedly poor)comfort was touching. This is a general vibe that I get from nearly all the characters on WAWWA. I also appreciated the how Danny is actively trying to convert to Islam. In shows, rarely is Islam ever portrayed in a positive manner. Especially when female characters are shown to be struggling with their religion, Islam is shown as this barrier that prevents them from living life. Hopefully it goes without saying that the “taking off the hijab” as a way to show that a female character is “liberated” is overplayed and does not offer any respect to the countless Muslim women who choose to wear hijabs. 

Now I think the pacing of some of the storylines could have been handled a bit more gracefully. Like how we jump from Fraser and Harper being kind of enemies(not really but you know what I mean), to just them hanging out in Richard’s boat was jarring. I would have at least liked to see the scene of them talking on the rocks at the beach. It would’ve given more insight on Caitlin/Harper’s character and also on Fraser too. Also how quickly Maggie and Lu(Jennifer but I love the name Lubaba, it’s my aunt’s name)jump into a physical affair. I just would have liked to see a build up of tension between all these characters but I don’t think this entirely ruins the plot. 

I was very iffy when I learned that the show would be focusing on trans identity and gender and sexuality, but not actually hire a trans male actor. I was afraid that the show would completely botch the experiences of being transgender, and honestly I don’t have the authority to speak on whether or not this affects the quality of the show. I am cisgender, and only can empathize with this particular situation as much as I can. But I would like to hear to the opinion of someone who is trans and elaborate on the ways that they did/didn’t like Jordan Kristine Seamón’s portrayal. 

Now at the time I’m writing this, the season finale has yet to come out. But I’d also like to briefly discuss the most recent episode and how it developed Jonathan and Fraser’s relationship. I was VERY worried that Guadagnino was going to take their relationship in the direction of inappropriate. While nearly all the depictions of Jonathan and his actions have been trough Fraser’s pov, it didn’t stop me from side-eyeing some of the interactions they shared. Of course after it was mentioned that Jonathan was supposed to be in his late 20s, nearing 30 I was immediately uncomfortable with the very flirty behavior he exhibited. 

So when the scene of Fraser going up to his apartment after Craig’s death, I was very on edge. If Guadagnino had gone the extra mile to show an even larger age gap then I would’ve been pissed. While I enjoyed Call Me By Your Name, the implication that sexual relationships between barely legal teenagers and adults well into their 20s was sensual is something that I see as very weird now that I’m older. So seeing Jonathan as the object of Fraser’s affections made me extremely warry. 

And honestly, I’m still surprised that the scene even happened in its entirety. I’m sure that Jack was not in any danger of being exploited but there were definitely points while watching I thought, what the fuck is going on? I was very worried that it would escalate, but I was happy to see that Fraser was the one who stopped it from going further.  It made sense to me that this scene took so many liberties to be as graphic as possible without being too graphic, in order to show why a situation like that would be scary and confusing for Fraser. It wasn’t lost to me that Marta and Jonathan were the one’s initiating all the sexual advances. They held all the power in that scenario, even more so because Fraser is younger and has the tendencies to not make the best decisions. Though it seemed that Fraser was trying, he knew that the situation was fucked up.

I’d like to hear what JDG felt and thought doing this scene. What was his character’s thought process?

I’ve seen a lot of people compare the show heavily to CMBYN, which is fine. Besides certain cinematic parallels that people pointed out, I don’t see the clear comparison. CMBYN is more of a love story and it’s more polished than WAWWA. Now when I say tat, I don’t mean it as a negative. Rather, We Are Who We is obviously more devoted to realism and its characters. I appreciate the inclusion of more LGBTQ+ people and black main characters with development, something that CMBYN lacked. And for some people who didn’t like the show based solely on the fact that it wasn’t a CMBYN tv show, I suggest just going into it with no expectations and enjoy the mess. 

And I’d also like to take a moment to commend Jack Dylan Grazer for his job in We Are Who We Are. All of the main cast are amazing actors and actresses and did a really good job bringing their characters to life. Though, I had always associated JDG with supporting roles that, while highlighted his acting talent, only put him in a one-dimensional light. As good as It 2017 was, JDG’s role of Eddie is only meant to be seen as a comic relief. In WAWWA, I was able to forget that he was teen actor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and really see him as Fraser. It’s worth mentioning that in a GQ interview, Grazer also mentioned how this role made him reevaluate is approach to acting. 

And after reading an interview he did with a Interview Germany, with him saying he spent months in Italy reading the script and trying to perfectly craft this character, I was immensely impressed. I hope that he knows that all his hard work payed off and made a really dynamic and interesting character. I really hope that in the future JDG continues with more mature or multi-dimensional roles because he displayed that he has the talent to do so. Him being so young makes me optimistic in knowing that he is definitely going places in his career. I also hope that there will be a season 2 of WAWWA because despite having hour long episodes, the show still felt way too short. There is a lot about Fraser’s character, and all the others’ characters, that I want more information and analysis on.

[muthaz-rapapa]

HealPre Final Review: Not terrible but not entirely laudable either...

*sigh* Where do I start?

Well, one thing I’m pretty sure of is that COVID definitely affected production somehow. By that, I don’t just mean the show needing to go on hiatus, resulting in a shorter run compared to previous seasons. I’m also talking about any possible changes that might’ve been made to the original narrative, if there was one.

Much like how Suite’s story had to be altered in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, I believe Heal underwent a similar treatment in response to the pandemic becoming more widespread as 2020 went on.

Especially since it dealt with health and nature, HealPre is probably the season that has come the closest in relevancy to real life events.

Frankly, that can be quite scary because this virus was and is still a fucking nightmare on a massive global scale. From that view, I can understand why the writers/producers would be concerned of the anime hitting too near home. At least for their main demographic’s (children) sake, maybe they were compelled to shift to something lighter and less edgier so that the kids could find some comfort and enjoyment in the midst of the world’s current crisis.

So I can’t fault Toei for that, if that’s really the case. Going through a pandemic is terrifying, infuriating and exhausting and UGH. We could use something that can help ease our worries or momentarily distract us even a little bit. 

Though would it have killed them to dedicate one episode to the importance of wearing a mask or washing hands? (-_- ;;)

HOWEVER! Seeing as I am not a fragile child, I’ve still got several (oho~) criticisms to air out before I put this season behind me. This review isn’t particularly scathing but...there is a lot of discontent so you’ve been forewarned.

But first, let’s tediously review what structure means in Precure.

We all know that there are certain things that will forever (?) remain fixed in the series formula.

The plot is always going to be “magical girls fight evil doers threatening to ruin the world”.

There are plot points to indicate story progression but in reality, are put there to correspond with toy releases which are usually marked by these five: introductions, first power up, midseason Cure, second power up, and build-up to the climax + finale.

There is usually a specific message (a theme) to be told with every season and motifs (narrative tools) to aid in getting that across. For HealPre, the theme is “living is fighting” and its motifs are “health” and “nature”.

I left out “animals” b/c 1) it didn’t hold as much significance as the other two did, 2) animals are part of nature anyway and 3) let’s be real, it’s just a synonym for “mascots” which we already get every year. :P

Right. I’m probably forgetting something but for the most part, these are immovable pillars of Precure.

Story, on the other hand, has more variables you can work with.

Story is how you tell the plot, how you convey the message.

Precure, as a tv series, is unarguably carried by its main stars, the Cures. So it only makes sense that a huge percentage of a season’s success owes itself to how much of an impact its characters had on the audience as well as how effective their individual story arcs were as sub-plots tying back to the bigger picture (the message/theme).

Ideally, these arcs would shine the brightest in the filler episodes, where the plot  (“good guys vs. bad guys”) is less of a focus so there is more space for personal development and growth.

Also, not all character arcs have to be directly related to the plot but they ought to be written well in order to support the overarching message (the theme).

Now, has HealPre done that? Has each girl’s story demonstrated a good example of what “living is fighting” means?

...nnnnnnyyeeee... look, even I can’t give a straightforward answer on that because while technically they did, by virtue of Nodoka’s observance in ep 44 recounting it as such, there’s also actually not enough to make it feel substantial from a viewer’s standpoint.

At least, that’s what I thought while watching HealPre.

With the exception of Nodoka’s, there was a lot of saying but not much doing to convincingly back the other girls’ arcs up. The fillers themselves were very weak, loosely composed in relation to the motifs and, if I may be so blunt, downright boring that if Nodoka didn’t phrase those episodes as things that counted towards the theme, I probably would put up more of a fight on disagreeing. so shoot me, I’m soft for her :P

And I know that sounds confusing right now but I will elaborate as I continue.

Before that though, to be utterly fair, some seasons keep their respective themes shrouded in vagueness until they’re given a more concrete form in words around the finale. So it’s not like we can do much except make educated guesses on what they really are. Most of the time, we’re just measuring everything against our perception of a standard in the fog. Or maybe that’s just me?

Nevertheless, you can just tell, y’know? By simply watching and observing the whole show, you can tell if the characterization, the development, and the outcome (essentially the content given) really live up to what the season claims is endgame.

So let’s go through that first then. The characters, starting with our lead Cure...

Nodoka being the only Cure in her team to have an arc deserving of the praise “exceptional” should come as a surprise to no one.

She was the most solid in terms of direction on how her story was going to proceed. Out of all the girls, her journey had the greatest connection to the subject “health”, repeatedly delved into it every time the spotlight was on her and fulfilled everything it seemed to promise from her debut in episode 1.

Her struggles on the road to recovery from a long-term illness and the strength she’s drawn from that traumatizing experience as well as her time as Precure did more than establish her as the strongest character in HealPre.

She has also rose to become one of the most memorable Pink Cures in the entire franchise (personally, I rank her in the top 5).

And it’s not hard to see why she’s earned such high regard in a lot of fans’ hearts.

The writers clearly worked a lot on her character composition to the point where she can pretty much embody the theme of “living is fighting” all on her own.

She came into HealPre fresh out of the hospital and full of earnest desire to make the most of her newfound freedom but she also wasn’t without knowledge on what hardship is. From there, she only got stronger, even when she was stumbling and trying to figure things out along the way. She grew more fortified in her beliefs on what it means to be truly live a healthy life.

She bravely defied the ones who attempted to take advantage of her and twist her cause against her. And she learned that taking care of herself is equally as important as wanting others to be safe from harm.

It was never about winning or coming out on top. It was about protecting a fundamental yet precious truth. That one thing any decent human being should never have to concede: the right to live well.

Honestly, Nodoka is absolutely inspiring all around, as a fictional character, a heroine and a normal everyday person.

Everything about her arc went satisfyingly right like it was meant to and the best thing is, we don’t need to question it because we saw how it all happened with our very own eyes.

I sincerely wished I could say the same for the others but sadly, they were just too flawed.

And Pegitan can throw flippers with me all day if he wants but as undeniable as the above statements are about Chiyu, her arc failed to leap over the increasingly mounting disappointment I had with every episode that’s been assigned solely to her.

Two of which weren’t even about Chiyu. One centered on Pegitan’s admiration for his partner and the other focused on her brother, Touji. Which, while nice to give to supporting/secondary characters, is a fat waste of valuable screentime and not what I’m here for.

It also didn’t help that the conflict of her arc (the indecision over choosing between two dreams) started really late in the game and was resolved so quickly within two episodes. There was no time for me to get invested into it, there was no powerful sense of conviction like how Go!Pri or Hugtto handled theirs and really, it just felt like Chiyu was only following what the script dictated for her rather than genuinely awakening to her own competitive passion towards track and field.

It was almost like it didn’t matter. Almost as if the writers procrastinated in thinking up something worthwhile to further her development...but then settled on grabbing an old idea off the shelf without refining it to suit Chiyu when they ran out of time.

This happened similarly with Minami in Go!Pri and Elena in StarPre, both of whom left me angry at how their arcs were executed. Yet theirs don’t compare to how pissed off I am about Chiyu’s. Because while Minami’s took a while to arrive, it wasn’t done poorly and linked back to Go!Pri’s theme well enough. And while Elena’s was over crammed last minute, at least it was unique to her character and had lots of potential ways to play out if they actually started it earlier on in StarPre.

Chiyu’s arc is like a discount version of the former with hardly any of the intriguing qualities of the latter. Sure, she had two early episodes that laid out the two most important aspects of her life (her family inn and her dedication to her sport) but after that, they weren’t brought up again until we were only weeks away from the ending. Y’know, just to fill up episode slots and meet the minimal requirement of saying they did give Chiyu some issue to resolve. 

It was not engaging at all.

Furthermore, the fact that her arc had very little to no relation with either “health” or “nature” hurt my appreciation of her character somewhat. I just...don’t think her kind of story really matches with the central topics of HealPre?

...but maybe I’m being bitter about this all wrong and that’s screwing up my rational thinking on this matter.

Because Chiyu’s arc is valid under the logic of the overall theme, I would never say it isn’t. And again, character arcs don’t have to be close to the plot nor is it necessary to employ the “suffering builds character” method to make them interesting.

Chiyu always does her best every day. That’s sufficient argument on why her story does fit within the frame of HealPre’s premise.

Guess I’ll just have to wrangle my resistance into acceptance somehow.

...still, her arc could’ve been done so much better than what we were given. Chiyu at least deserved that much.

Next, Hinata.

Since the beginning, I knew she was gonna be runner-up to Nodoka for having the (for lack of better term atm) “best” arc because it was heavily implied that she has ADHD and therefore, immediately checked off the “health” trait. She was even more obvious about it than Nozomi was.

Difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity, impulsiveness. Hinata didn’t just display all those signs, she also showed how hard it was for her to deal with the downsides to them on a regular basis.

She kept apologizing and put herself down excessively for inconveniencing her friends even though they never blamed her for her condition. Got them annoyed a few times, yes, but didn’t stop them from staying friends with her and definitely didn’t make them hate her either.

Everybody was understanding of Hinata...except Hinata because she always took her failures to heart and considered quitting several times to avoid the crushing dejection of making mistakes over and over again.

She got better, though, and no one could have summed it up more heartwarmingly than Nyatoran with the encouraging words he gave her at the conclusion of her arc. 

But it still feels like there’s a huge chunk of development missing between the start and finish. Or rather, it seemed like all of it occurred offscreen and we were only informed later that it did in fact, happen.

To recap, iirc, Hinata had around 5 episodes that focused on her (ep 9, 13, 23, 35 and 40). Ep 18 doesn’t count because that was a Nyatoran-centric filler more than anything.

Ep 9 and 13 did their jobs of introducing and highlighting the details of Hinata’s troubles while also suggesting she will eventually learn to overcome her insecurities. The ones after, though? They pushed those issues to the backseat.

In Ep 23, she had to share the (uneven) spotlight with Asumi. Hinata’s improvements were briefly mentioned but the majority of the ep went to teaching Asumi what “cute” meant and how to get along with puppies. I mean, I get that Asumi recently joined the group and bonding with her was mandatory by tradition. But since each Cure only gets a limited number of eps to herself, it would’ve been more beneficial for Hinata if she didn’t have to split screentime with someone else’s growth schedule.

Ep 35 is slightly better but not by a whole lot. Sure, Natasha was able to reconcile with Elizabeth which was very sweet and heck, it was the goal for that episode. But again, nothing was really done or addressed about Hinata’s main conflict. She tossed it back with the rest of her homework to deal with later. ahaha, a TroPre hint

Then ep 40 came to formally close the curtains on her story and apparently, Hinata screwed up lots of times since...whenever but she picked herself up every time after and kept on trying. Awesome. So WHY didn’t we get to see that? 

I’m not asking for the impossible here. I’m not asking for Hinata to be cured or anything miraculous like that. There is treatment available for ADHD but it is not curable.

Also, forcing Hinata to find a way to get better at studying, the thing she struggles with the most, is not the solution either because that would only make her more stressed and anxious over her own disorder.

What I want is to see how she moved from wailing “I can’t do it! I don’t wanna! I’m so scared of failing so why bother?!” to determinedly declaring “So what if I failed 1 or 100 times? So what if I fail another 1000 times? What matters is that I don’t let that stop me!”

That confidence is not something that can be built up overnight. It’s gradual and it takes numerous tries to reach from where Hinata was to where Hinata is now.

Telling me she grew emotionally stronger can only allow me to believe so much. I need to actually witness the changes as well.

If it weren’t for that, Hinata’s arc would have been a lot more impressive. Shame.

Finally............... Asumi.

Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi... *sighs & drums fingers*

...she has no arc, ok? Seriously, what story is there to speak of, much less write a hefty analysis on?

A spirit born for the sake of Latte who just went along with the Precure ride because Latte didn’t want to abandon her duty. She made friends with those who aren’t Latte, extended her knowledge and understanding and gained valuable human experience during her stay on Earth. But ultimately, she will always define her entire existence around a puppy. 

Nothing is more important than this puppy.

...... to be honest, Asumi not having a storyline isn’t what bothers me. It’s her lack of depth that does.

Hell, even the giant burger she ate had more depth than she did!

Oh, Asumi does have a personality alright. She’s consistently and unfailingly polite, utterly devoted to her raison d’être and in crucial moments, gives pearls of wisdom when the girls are in a pinch. She’s good.

But if that’s all she is, then she’s also painfully dull.

She has nothing to contribute to the discussion of health or nature, despite being created through an element of the Earth so you’d think she’d have an opinion of her own. At least worry about the planet that gave life to her as much as she frets over Latte all the time. But nope.

She shares the exact same face as Teatine’s past Precure partner so you’d think we’d explore that connection to see if it would influence or affect her in any way. But nope.

90% of the time, her role was just being Latte’s constant, fawning satellite.

Not only did that irritate the hell out of me but it just reinforced my stance that this type of character is one of the worst you can ever insert into any narrative.

Because if someone keeps reiterating how much they’re obsessed with this one thing and seldom talks about anything else without bringing their obsession into it... then what’s so special about them on their own?

You’ve practically surrendered the different qualities you could have had for worship of something else. That’s not a fair trade-in.

Asumi’s character is so packed with Latte-related stuff that there’s not much space left for anything that can be considered uniquely Asumi.

I mean, maybe it’s because I can never see myself or any normal person comfortable with living like that.

Living for the sake of being together with the one you love? Okay. But living with your whole universe revolving around that one thing? Making most if not all decisions based on this one thing?

No. That’s absolutely crazy, alright? Nobody with a healthy amount of awareness and self-worth would live like that.

And you can counter that Asumi’s just born like that. That she can’t help her origins because Teatine’s wish to protect her daughter is essentially what brought Asumi into existence so of course, her biggest concern would be Latte. At least, she wasn’t forced into it, right? As long as Asumi chose of her own will to follow Latte, it should be fine, right?

You can even use the fact that Asumi isn’t human. That she’s a spirit and we shouldn’t apply our human standards too strictly to her.

Yea, but those are feeble defenses in the face of her being a good main character, a good main heroine. 

There are many ways to make a decent MC. The way Asumi was written proves she certainly does not possess traits that can classify her as true protagonist material. A protagonist has to be more than one amplified feature, which Asumi is not.

For the record, I don’t hate Asumi (she’s not interesting enough to generate a feeling that intense). I'm just severely let down because even if I don’t end up loving the midseason Cure for whatever reason, I can usually count on them to bring something intriguing to the table to dissect and analyze. At least I should find something to care about them.

Didn’t happen with her. :(

Oh god, I’ve been working on this post for days now and I’ve got a headache and with the baton pass happening in less than a few hours as I type this, I just really need to get it done and over with so please forgive me for speeding up through the rest, I’ll try to keep it as coherent as possible. NYARGH! (@_@ ;;)

Mascots.

Would you be surprised to hear that I’m not surprised that they were actually written very well?

Like I said early on, I suspected the return of fairy partnerships were going to improve the mascots’ significance in the story and, well, I was right. 

This time, they didn’t just fill in the usual expectations of relaying exposition, serving as the Cures’ transformation devices and looking cute for the merchandise. The Healing Animals had to make progress on their own training to become doctors as well.

And they did through their relationships with their human partners.

It was a refreshing take on the mascot aspect of the series because the friendships felt really symbiotic. When the trainees arrived on Earth, they relied on the girls to help them perform their jobs as well as provide them with shelter, food, the occasional peptalk about their trainee status, etc.

Then as the story continued and they got to know each other better, the mascots were able to return the favor by giving support when the Cures needed it. Rabirin when Nodoka was frightened and confused about how to deal with Daruizen, Pegitan when Chiyu was having trouble choosing between two dreams and Nyatoran who made sure to always lift Hinata’s spirits up when she got upset at herself.

In short, they achieved their objectives of learning what it means to be good doctors by being there for their friends! How wonderful! :D

My memory for Latte is hazy, unfortunately, since she’s coddled by everyone all the time (can’t blame them, she’s friggin’ adorable! <3) but I’ll never forget how she stood firm on the battlefield to see things through, to fight for the Earth like she promised her mother. She started out so babie but showed us all there was enormous bravery behind her cute face and ugh, we should all be very proud of her! <3

The only major issues I had about the mascots were these:

1) Too many irrelevant fillers went to them. They only needed a maximum of two for their entire mascot group.

2) Latte kept getting sick even after she acquired a Precure partner of her own. I was hoping it wouldn’t hurt her as much as it did before Asumi arrived or that she would build up a stronger immunity but noooo, they insisted on torturing the poor pupper! T_T

Villains + Finale Battle

Not a lot needs to be said for the first part. We’ve had mediocre antagonists before. HealPre’s just happened to be extra annoying as they were despicable. 

Which is worse because jerks you can just leave in the trash but assholes won’t stop harassing you unless you pummel them into their graves, set fire to their corpses and leave no trace of them behind! >:(

Y’all know who I’m talking about. Opinions on him continue to vary depending on who you talk to and if they’re avid fans of his face or not but whatever. The son of a bitch served his purpose and is dead now. That’s all that matters to me.

Anyway, the King was flat like his two lesser generals. He was neither intimidating nor distinguished enough in the brand of evil to really make us think of him as a serious threat and because of that, it ended up making the boss fight look like any run of the mill boss fight.

I know, they tried so hard with all that shiny animation but it just didn’t have that glorious sense of vindication that previous seasons (or ep 42) gave and I blame it all on this Rumiko Takahashi reject.

Also, this strategy was pretty useless?

They built it up like Earth was gonna sacrifice herself and die or something (she wouldn’t and even if she came close, deus ex machina would’ve kicked in to prevent that and COVID-induced caution too I guess). 

But there were no signs of pain (well, that’s a relief) after absorbing Shindoi-ne and they really pissed King Byogen off more than they did any damage with the absorbed byo-gen power.

...so yea, this tactic was just to kill some time and budget, nothing more. Meh.

By the way, did Asumi eject Shindoi-ne’s pathogen out of her body yet or did they just leave it in there to bounce around until it eventually dissolves on its own?

Because that’s eww. I mean, it’s obviously not gonna hurt Asumi they can both relate on hyperfocusing their affection for someone so maybe the compatibility helps :P but still, ewwwww.

Fillers + Underused Motifs

In hindsight, perhaps HealPre didn’t exactly promise the content we I wanted about “health” and “nature” if their objective was to teach that any manner of “fighting” can count towards “living”.

......but fuck you Toei, you’re still cowards! >:/

Fillers will be fillers but it’s always better to try and make some of them as meaningful as possible. And they wasted the opportunity to inform an impressionable audience (during a very crucial period of our time, I must add) on a lot of things related to the HealPre’s motifs. Especially about the environment which for some ridiculous reason, they chose not to touch on for the main stretch of the overall story.

Proper hygiene, good diet plan and sleeping habits, regular exercise (already done by the girls a few times but could use another example), meditation, counseling/therapy (especially for mental health!), etc.

Real life pollution, climate change/global warming (IMPORTANT!!), deforestation, preservation vs conservation, endangered species, recycling, volunteering to clean up your community, etc.

These just came off the top of my head but yes, there’s more and no, I’m not saying that the writers need to cover all of them in extreme detail or replace the slice-of-life episodes.

But they should be able to mesh both serious and light-hearted together in harmony somehow. Like those fillers where the mascots saw people cleaning up littering at the park or that interaction with that arborist who taught them about wild animals and trees when the group went to visit a lake.

For health, maybe let the girls visit patients with chronic illness in the hospital or have them converse with a medical professional on some matter. Particularly if it’s got something to do with mental illness because stigma in Japan on those who are afflicted with such conditions is still prevalent and has caused a number of sad and shocking tragedies that could have otherwise been avoided if people didn’t have such outdated, judgmental mindsets.

That last part might be too dark for a children’s anime but there’s a lot more out there that is doable.

Do that without reducing it into a footnote, Toei. It is so necessary for your target audience to be aware of these issues at the age they are now. You have an almost 20-year old franchise to serve as a very effective platform. Make better use of it if you truly care about the message you’re conveying through your show!

Also, what the fuck.

The last episode was a mess. Why are you only mentioning this now when the season is already over?

This should’ve been brought up months ago!

All the things we could’ve seen the Cures done to protect the Earth without magic.

The excuse of “I didn’t know humans were so horrible!” is a shit one because everybody knows humans are deplorable trash when it comes to abusing the Earth. All the more reason why you have to persistently drill it into people’s heads that they should not be like those who don’t care or choose not to care.

One crack episode isn’t going to cut that.

God, I so want to unsee this ep just so I don’t have to end HealPre on a more sour note than it already was. *big aggrieved sigh*

Lastly (and this really is the end of my long ranting, I promise), the missing undisclosed lore.

There are few Precure seasons without a past lore of its own in the recent years. Is it a wonder, though?

Lore is mysterious and fascinating. If it involves a past Precure, even more so.

Sometimes fans might just hang onto a show because they’re curious about what happened before the main story. We’d never get the full tale of those adventures but at least, it’s fun to imagine the “prequel”.

Also, past Precure are just badass. Fact.

Strangely enough, we didn’t get that for Heal. All we know is that she was called “Fuu” and was very close to Teatine. 

Hmm. Probably one of those changes caused by COVID interference cuz I can’t imagine the writers choosing not to tell her past in the original draft.

With all that finally off my chest, I’m ready to part ways with you girls until the next All Stars (Nodoka, I’m gonna miss you so much! T_T)

HealPre wasn’t the worst and it was nowhere near the best that it had the potential to be. But it’s passable. At least for those who loved it even with its flaws, I’m genuinely glad it was good for you.

For those who are thinking about picking it up (although why you would read this spoilery post before watching, I have no idea), if you’re looking for a standard magical girl anime to enjoy casually, then this is a safe pick. If you really want to invest your attention and heart into it, though? Then perhaps it would be in your interest to ask someone who saw it already to help you filter out the episodes that are worth watching. You don’t need to worry about the rest, they’re inconsequential. :P

Ok then! Thanks for reading as always, brave souls who have reached this point. 

Stay healthy and safe out there and I’ll see you at the beach next week! Tropic underwater paradise here we coooooommmmmeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! xDDD

[loopy777]

Thank You! Finally someone who also understands he hardships that Mai went through! A lot of people thinks that Mai is a bored spoiled rich girl and I’m like “Did you not understand the scene in the Beach episode???” Mai is explaining how she was emotionally and mentally suppressed during her childhood. Do they not know how that can really damage a person? Mai’s childhood, similar to Toph’s, explained her upbringing as a person; and they don’t see that? But the thing is I think they do. [1/3]

Like everybody understood that Toph’s childhood was rough too despite herself being an upperclassmen daughter who could technically get whatever she wants. Is it because people don’t really jive with Mai? Or is it because the shipping wars have to do with this lack understanding of Mai in the fandom? I also remember seeing a post here saying how “Mai is toxic to Zuko and here’s why”. What? Toxic? Are you serious?! Like they stated how Mai shouldn’t be with Zuko due to her lack of- [2/3]

-expressions and that Zuko needs someone who can openly show affection. Um... Do you not see how Mai would Smile Around Him?! How She would physical Express her affection via kisses and touches? One would argue that she is dismissed toward Zuko and would source the scene with the “I don’t need to hear your life story” and the Beach episode where she dismisses Zuko attempts to pleases her. I should end it here. I guess I’m asking is: “What’s your personal take on why Mai is misunderstood?” [3/3]

Well, to be fair to some of the Mai-haters out there, I think a big part of the problem is that The Beach has terrible writing. As I jokingly allude to in that post, Mai’s explanation of her childhood is a vast understatement compared to what I described about the abuse she suffered. Here it is in full, with Azula’s own take on it:

MAI: What do you want from me? You want a teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well, it wasn't. I was a rich only-child who got anything I wanted. As long as I behaved and sat still, and didn't speak unless spoken to. My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about.

AZULA: Well, that's it, then. You have a controlling mother who had certain expectations, and if you strayed from them, you were shut down. That's why you're afraid to care about anything, and why you can't express yourself.

Naturally, Mai can’t also detail about how she was controlled and abused by Azula, nor can she get into everything she hates about Fire Nation society. And it fits with her character that she would understate things, leaving it for those who would truly empathize (Ty Lee, at least, and perhaps she’s testing to see if Zuko will get it) to understand what she’s leaving unsaid.

So only an audience really paying attention to Mai will see the shadows behind her relatively innocuous words. Yes, she’s not describing a good situation, but it’s easy to mischaracterize what she’s talking about as mere “teaching discipline.” And then Azula jumps in with her take, which is going to be colored by her own experiences and issues, and I think The Boiling Rock makes a good case that Azula does not have Mai fully figured out. ;)

We have to also keep in mind that there was a space of 9 months between the airings of The Beach and The Boiling Rock, so that’s an extra opportunity for people not paying attention to Mai to miss all the dynamics in this conversation. Heck, even Azula’s abuse of Mai was only glimpsed through innocuous reminders like breaking up a Sunset Maiko Date, compared to her ordering Mai to give up her brother to rebel terrorists in her introductory episode- which aired 13 months before The Beach. Even the Fountain Incident in the flashback of Zuko Alone can be seen as a mere prank by those not connecting the dots. The perception of the fandom was largely that Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee were real friends, from what I saw of it before the TBR came around. (I was only in the fandom for 4 months before Mai’s big moment.) It’s only in hindsight that most people realized that Mai was making daily evaluations as to whether it was time to die gloriously trying to ram a stiletto in Azula’s ear.

Toph, by comparison, is easier to understand because the cartoon outright shows us her father calling her weak and declaring that he’s going to lock up her so that she can’t risk herself. Mai’s background is something we glimpse in the way her mother ‘politely’ shuts down her opinion of living in Omashu, and then her own understated confession on Ember Island. It’s a perfect illustration of the storytelling fallacy of “Show, Don’t Tell.” A more accurate and helpful version of that advice is to dramatize the important stuff rather than leaving it in dialogue, and Mai’s issues are largely undramatized.

All that said, I have no idea how anyone comes away from AtLA with the impression that Mai is expressionless. I still see it today, despite the whole story being available; I just got a review on a story the other day that praised my ability to find depth in such an “emotionless” character. Right in her first episode, when Ty Lee teases her about meeting up Zuko, Mai can’t hold back a smirk and turns her face away so that no one can see it! That’s the entire character dramatized in one scene! Never mind how she does allow herself an outburst in The Beach in response to Azula’s trying to psychoanalyze her, or everything in The Boiling Rock where she’s clearly hurt by Zuko’s leaving her to the point of nearly being in tears at several moments- or her grand romantic gesture of choosing to die to save Zuko’s life.

Maybe people are confused by Mai not actually dying thanks to Ty Lee’s intervention?

Also, while I’m not enough of an expert in humanity to say, the rest of Tumblr has plenty of theories about how Mai is probably the victim of unconscious sexism. She’s not traditionally feminine, so some people don’t empathize in the same way they do characters like Katara or Ty Lee or even Azula. Even Toph sheds tears for the audience! Mai, however, will hold back those tears no matter how much she’s hurting.

You have to look directly into her eyes to see her pain.

Another factor, which again other people could elaborate on with more expertise, is that the abuse I described for Mai is what I called a ‘soft’ kind. She wasn’t physically beaten, so it’s not a kind of abuse that people are used to recognizing. It’s hard for people to see manipulation as a form of abuse, but it certainly can be one. An entire childhood of being told that your opinions are wrong is definitely a form of abuse, but it’s not the kind we usually see in stories, so Mai’s story doesn’t fit the patterns we’re trained to recognize. The result can be audiences simply missing what’s going on with her, or even outright disliking her for the ‘oddness’ of her story.

Which, ironically, is kind of like what Mai’s life was like in-universe. She didn’t fit the pattern that was expected of her, so she was pushed to either conform or become invisible. And when she does finally allow herself to stand out, a portion of the fandom becomes Azula to kill her with lightning.

Which leaves the Mai-fans as a metaphorical Ty Lee.

Which I think makes us all uncomfortable. XD

[365days365movies]

April 8, 2021: Swiss Army Man (2016) (Recap: Part Two)

So...is Manny a Horcrux, or...

Look, I have only so much willpower, a Harry Potter joke HAD to get its way in here somewhere, OK? And to be clear, Radcliffe is too talented to be relegated to that as his career highlight in and of itself. He was great in it, sure, but the guy deserves more recognition. All of the Harry Potter cast do, for that matter! They’ve all had careers outside of those films, but it often feels like they’re only relegated to similar roles. 

Worst amongst those is Emma Watson. Like...really Disney? That was your choice for Belle? The most obvious possible choice EVER? Geez, guys, come on. Also, I hate to say it...but she was clearly the wrong choice for that role. Not just in terms of the autotune overload, but also in general. Sorry, but she wasn’t a great casting, and the reasons for the cast are so transparent, that it makes it even worse. Real talk, people have suggested Anna Kendrick for that role, and honestly...YEAH. THAT WOULD’VE BEEN A BETTER CHOICE, and she’s not even my favorite choice!

...Where was I? Oh, right, Swiss Army Man. I should probably get back to that before I start talking about the new Cruella movie, how Emma Stone is NOT a good casting choice, and how ALL of the DIsney remakes need SERIOUS retooling, and WHY THE FUCK IS QUEEN LATIFAH OR A DRAG QUEEN NOT PLAYING URSULA IN THE REMAKE OF THE LITTLE MERMAID SHE’S BASED ON FUCKING DIVINE

....Back to the movie. First part’s here.

Recap (2/2)

So, we’re back on the fake bus, where the two pantomime the interaction on the bus between Manny and the girl on the phone, with Hank narrating the situation, while also playing the girl, and while Manny sings the Jurassic Park theme song in the soundtrack (I LOVE THIS FUCKING SOUNDTRACK). Manny suddenly feels nervous about talking to this girl, and asks what Hank would do in this situation. But, of course, he’s been in this situation before, and never really said anything. Sorry, buddy.

However, living vicariously through Manny’s actions, he helps her talk to the mystery girl on the bus, whom Manny names “Sarah Johnson”. The two hold hands, and their interaction makes him smile, and once again brings him more to life. He also manifests the ability to make fire with his hands, and to propel objects far distances with his mouth. And yes, the soundtrack is BANGIN’. I mean, this is a montage in the film, and the song just shouts “MONTAAAAAGE” during the chorus, and also describes everything happening on screen. I fucking love this soundtrack, and this is now my montage music.

I should mention that, like the song says, they kill a raccoon and some fish, and also go on a fake (?) date between him and “Sarah Johnson”. They learn to use his arm with some karate chop action, have a fake party, take some fake pictures, it’s fucking nuts and its GREAT. What the hell, man?

Well, this soon leads to things getting a little...awkward between the two, and they nearly kiss after their night of reverie. Which, given the whole dead body thing, is definitely pretty goddamn weird. That continues throughout the day, and the emotional and literal tension ramps up as the two cross a rickety bridge of pipes, which collapses, leading to the two hanging high above a river, which legitimately scares Manny for the first time, mostly because he’s afraid of losing his connection with Hank.

The two fall into the river, and in order to save them both (I think), the two kiss beneath the water. I’m fairly certain that this was meant to blow into Manny so that he could propel them both out of the water...but that’s probably not the only reason for it. That will likely be revealed later on, of course. I’ll just wait and see.

They both get out of the river and the situation, and eventually settle down for the night. In the process, Hank shares more feelings about his father, and this includes how to two don’t really talk much. Manny definitely finds this weird, as he’s planning on telling the real Sarah Johnson how much he feels for her every day. I may have forgotten to mention this, but Manny’s impetus for getting them home (and for coming back to life) is to meet Sarah Johnson, whom he believes is from his past life.

However, upon learning that his farts would probably be discouraged in public, Manny wonders why they're returning, as society sounds restrictive. Hank agrees, and suggests that they stay where they are instead. This is a joke...I think...but that becomes moot, as the two are actually right next to a road, and Hank can get service. He goes onto a social media app, and looks at the profile of Sarah Johnson (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), which is...her real name. Huh. Also, she is married with kids. Oh. OH. Fuck.

Hank goes to Manny and finally reveals the truth about Sarah, which upsets Manny enough that he’s unable to use his abilities. Which sucks, because a bear is at their camp! The bear injures Hank, but the two escape when Hank accidentally light one of Manny’s farts, propelling them upwards and out of the dangerous situation like a goddamn rocket.

When they land in the treetops, the very saddened Manny begins to lament life, and to cry for the first time. However, doing so taps into another of his abilities: psychic manipulation and mental inception. Damn. This ability is far too powerful for Hank’s psyche, especially as Manny descends into straight-up depression, which Hank admits that he completely understands. And Hank falls out of the treetops as the two have a heart-to-heart about their shared depression, and the bear drags him away as they have a shared existential crisis. It’s kind of funny, kind of depressing,, weirdly sweet, and oddly poignant.

And weirdly enough, this is also when Manny discovers one last major ability: he learns to move on his own. He falls out of the tree, and stands up for the first time. He falls immediately after that, BUT, he still manages to get up afterwards. He also uses his fire-starting ability to scare away the bear, saving both of them. He also sets himself on fire for a hot sec, but whatever.

The next morning, roles have been reversed, as Manny is now carrying Hank on his back through the woods. And also right to Sarah’s house, oh FUCK. Hank protests this, understandably, and points out that he doesn’t think himself good enough to even talk to Sarah, revealing his own self-hatred. But after he calls himself an “ugly, useless sack of shit”, Manny counters that by basically saying that nobody’s perfect, but there’s still somebody for everyone. Which is quite sweet, despite how exactly he says it.

And that’s when they meet Sarah’s daughter, Crissie (Antonia Ribero), dear Lord. Weirdly enough, she can hear Manny, meaning that...wait, he’s REAL?!? MANNY IS AN ACTUAL TALKING BODY?!? Not that it matters, since he scares Crissie, which gets Sarah’s attention. However, having scared Crissie, Manny’s sadness causes him to once again become completely inanimate.

Sarah calls the authorities, and they come to patch Hank up and take Manny away at the same time. They discover the pictures of Sarah on her phone, which makes them understandably suspicious. Hank’s father (Richard Gross) also arrives, under the mistaken impression that Hank is the dead body. He completely breaks down, revealing his true emotions for his son, which Hank appreciates. However, things come to a head when Hank realizes that Manny will likely go unrecognized and unremembered. So, he does the logical thing.

He steals Manny’s body and runs away.

I mean, to be fair, they’re BOTH screwed. Sarah’s questioning why the hell pictures of her are on Hank’s phone, and Manny’s gonna get completely forgotten. Not to mention that, as the police and Sarah Johnson pursue him as he takes off with Manny, they discover the camp that Hank and Manny had built while stranded in the woods, which includes some unfortunate effigies of Sarah. Which, yeah, is scary as FUCK.

With Hank now seeming pretty obviously insane (which to be fair, he totally might be), and Sarah, the cops, and Hank’s father absolutely horrified, Hank is taken away just before he tells Manny that they have to SHOW them exactly what happened. And he attempts to make amends with Manny by doing something he’d refused to do in front of him previously: he farts. Hank farts. Loudly and proudly.

But Manny’s still inanimate, and led away by the cops...and suddenly...Many farts. And it’s gloriously stupid. A news cameraman films this, and they all watch on, as Manny’s farts propel him across the ocean, with everyone watching. Sarah rightfully says “What the fuck?”. Manny grins back at Hank. And Hank grins back.

That was Swiss Army Man, by far the weirdest movie I’ve see this month...and it’s weirdly kinda great? I’ll elaborate in the Review (I owe you guys a few of those, by the way; THEY’RE COMIN’). See you there!

[celestialholz]

Star Trek: Picard. MON CAPITAINE, HE’S BAAAACK. <3

Well, I am a British idiot without a decent proxy, but it’s Friday and therefore Captain Picard Day officially for my good self, so... about time we got with the damn times and DID SOME REVIEWIN’, mes amis. Spoilers abound, naturally. I’m going blow-by-blow, but also elaborating on some lovely things here and there. Jean-Luc Picard means a lot to me personally, I write about him a lot for those who may not know me, and I’ve been SO excited for this - but does it measure up? Spoiler warning: oh yeah. Hellllll yeah.

Warning: Many crudely-drawn hearts incoming. None of them are mechanical, sadly.

- Okay, first thing: this show is GORGEOUS. Oh my god, seriously. CBS knew they were running a potential gold mine here and spent the damn money to prove it. That sweeping into the Enterprise? The credits? Boston? Jesus, my eyes haven’t been treated so well since Avengers: Endgame. It’s a damn Michelin-starred FEAST. It strikes precisely the right balance of feeling gloriously alive and futuristic whilst having the vineyard be oh-so-current, and thus retro for the era. 1701 out of ten, boys. <3

- Data. Picard. Poker. My soul aches. This immediate rich banter is just... *pinch emoji* Ten Forward, man. TEN FORWARD.

- Give me the dog. Just give me him. I love Will, super stoked to see him again, but THIS is my new Number One. Shaped like a goddamn friend.

- Boston, huh? Jesus. Immediate action, immediate knowledge without any knowledge at all of who this chick is. Great writing. <3

- Credits! Already said they’re visually lovely, but the music is also surprisingly effective. Has this contrast of giving us quaint vibes mixed with 24th century tech; the real message of this show, laid out right there.

- Romulans! In the vineyard! Picard said alien rights! Love him. <3 This whole thing feels so very him - he can’t ever quite be stagnant, even back home. He’s out here being forward-thinking and socially progressive as fuck.

- He has a found family again. Of course he does. God, you can truly tell Patrick Stewart exec-produced this. <3

- Decaf earl grey. “You’re getting old, Johnny.” (Don’t drink decaf earl grey if you can help it, guys. It’s fucking terrible. I’m sure he knows this. Bless him.)

- Journalist? She’s going to be an arse, isn’t she?

- ... Oh yeah. And a prejudiced one, too! Lovely. /end British sarcasm I love that layering of this against “Romulan lives -” “Lives.” This new universe feels so deliciously alive at every turn; visually, socially, culturally... this is the vibe I WANTED from a sequel. Beautiful. <3

- Picard, here, in this scene. Just dear GOD. This is why this character is so enduring - he’s kind, warm, soulful, deeply intelligent, principled as all hell, and he’s become so embittered by this horrendous miscarriage of justice... the utopia’s failing, folks, and it’s a delight. Patrick sells the absolute shit out of this whole thing like the absolute asset he’s always been to this franchise, and just the CARE that has gone into his portrayal? I’m in love. Just give me fucking ALL of it. He feels so very him whilst also being richer and a touch bolder and christ, all these things Patrick’s said about loving Picard and wanting to portray him faithfully shine here so very clearly. Flawless. <333333 

- Oh, and all of that, but also THROWBACK THURSDAY. <3 These flashbacks will murder me, I’m certain of it. Retro and new in perfect harmony.

- Oh, here’s the kid! And hang on, an intriguing quote... “You just wave your hand and it all goes away”? Can we just... step back and think about what that’s a reference to, because fuck, dude, I MAY JUST HAVE TO WATCH TAPESTRY AGAIN. (Hardly a chore, let’s be real. I’m a Q stan, leave me be. It’s likely not a reference of course, but for the love of the Continuum, give me De Lancie. This shit already can’t improve so far, just LET IT IMPROVE ANYWAY.) 

- This interview-on-a-random-screen thing is great, too; I love the dichotomy of it. Picard’s out here being principled and wonderful, solely for our eyes and the girl’s. It’s literally background info at this point and it’s a lovely little aside to how Picard’s just been here the whole time, abiding by what he believes in without any real fuss. 

- ... That lovely little vineyard confrontation. Yes, yes, yes. Dad vibes without being a dad. I so didn’t want him to be a dad, it’s so painfully out of character, and I’m so glad they went with ‘lovely old uncle’ instead. <3 This whole scene just again pitches Picard amazingly.

- Can I have that firepit, Jean-Luc? Thanks, Captain.

- ... Hold the entire galaxy’s collection of phones: IS THIS CHICK LAL?! How the hell would that even work?! Bro...

- This nostalgia suite thing in the archives? Incredible. The banner? He hated that shit, we all know this, but it meant something to him deep down, that those children had his respect and admiration, that he felt so inspiring to others... how very telling that it’s one of the things he chose to keep. <3 Parallels not-Lal and this whole mini-arc thing wonderfully.

- ... Is her name supposed to sound like Vash’s? Is that a coincidence? Anyway, she’s not Lal, which makes much more sense, but she is... Data’s daughter? When the sodding hell did that happen? Oh, I really don’t care, honestly. It’s beautiful. All these Data flashbacks continue to kill me, and just for the love of it, let’s chuck some Captain in there, uniform and all! Gaaah. Who gave Patrick Stewart the right to still be this attractive, good lord above. Brent out here absolutely nailing this naive joy we loved so much back in the day, too... <333

- That chat about Dajh (possibly? The sweet and misguided android chick, giving me major Amanda Rogers vibes - I was too excited to look up the spelling, do forgive me) and her connection to Data, and what it means to Picard? Lovely. Absolutely adorable.

- ... And we come to my only minor gripe with all of this joy - why in the name of all positrons was Dajh introduced and then more or less immediately blown to tiny android pieces? Can’t help but feel the potential she had was wasted. I understand that we needed a Picard catalyst to get him back in the game, but I feel as though she’d have done that whilst still being alive. Although, I’m not going to be too harsh on it... “I haven’t been living, I’ve been waiting to die” is a thousand percent the quote of 2020 twenty-three days in and I just about screamed. I’ve got Tapestry vibes again, my god. This man is such a legend. <333333

-  I was becoming rather invested in dear Dajh, though, and I know we have her identical twin elsewhere (more on that shortly) but that’s sort of like giving me Lore and expecting me to be fine without Data. Speaking of which... 

- B-4. In a drawer. Near a door? Well, probably about thirty metres away from one. Love it. And a Maddox namedrop at the same time as something of an explanation! Actually really enjoyed this tie-in to old lore (pun fully intended, folks) whilst being coherent in its own right. God, I’d love to see a non-Trekkie watch this, they’d be so fucking baffled...

- Okay, even with all I’ve said about the visuals, that segway from neuron necklace to space was spectacular. I’m never going to need an eye test again. <3

- Nice guy Romulan. Awww. Someone hug his awkward soul. Dajh’s twin looks immediately less interesting (as evidenced by the fact I’ve forgotten her name - it definitely starts with ‘S’) but I’m definitely reserving judgement for now, I’m sure she’ll be as great as the rest of this show.

- ... That’s a cube, isn’t it?

- IT’S A CUBE. WITH ROMULANS. WHO AREN’T ASSIMILATED. Did they steal it? How the hell did they steal it? Do they have an alliance? What the fuck is happening? Picard did not sign back up two minutes ago for this shit guys!

... Well, basically, tl;dr? Modern, socially developed, stunning; retro in flawless contrast, with an even richer and more nuanced main character than ever who still feels so very himself, which is all I ever wanted. Fucking fantastic. Is it Friday again yet? Can your esteemed reviewer hit up a proxy next week and not die in anticipation of whatever the shit that ending was being perhaps explained a little more?

To be continued...

[airoasis]

The person you really need to marry | Tracy McMillan | TEDxOlympicBlvdWomen

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-person-you-really-need-to-marry-tracy-mcmillan-tedxolympicblvdwomen-4/

The person you really need to marry | Tracy McMillan | TEDxOlympicBlvdWomen

Translator: Nadine Hennig Reviewer: Ilze Garda once I was growing up, there used to be this track we used to sing on the playground, and it went like this, "Tracy and so and so, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes little one in a little one carriage." and i’m like, "adequate, that is it! That’s how you do lifestyles. That is how you do a relationship. Love, marriage, little one carriage. Adequate, acquired it! (Laughter) Then I grew up, and that is what my life grew to become out to be. (Laughter) relatively more elaborate, correct? (Laughter) Love, marriage, divorce, dry spells, love, marriage, co-parenting, yet another marriage, one other divorce; you bought the photo.(Laughter) (Applause) So if you are good at math and/or a quick reader, what you could have acquired there may be that i have been married 3 times. Yep, three, and divorced. What that’s supposed to intend is that i am a whole failure at relationships. And that’s one option to appear at it, but now not the one method. On account that what I feel particularly happened is that I kept marrying the improper person. No, it can be now not that I did not– it can be no longer that I selected dangerous guys. My first two husbands had been effective men who are actually married to unusual females who aren’t me. (Laughter) And my third husband, well, we’re friends on facebook now. So, all is well that ends well, proper? After the give way of my 1/3 marriage in 2005, i realized that i have been marrying everybody in sight, besides the one person that I fairly wanted to marry to be able to have a first-class relationship and that after I married that individual, all of my relationships would be successes, even the disasters.The so-referred to as failures, clearly. Considering we’re talking at present about women inventing, i’m going to speak about inventing relationships. What I’ve located via a lot of trial and certainly, many, many, many blunders, to be the article that has modified my life and love, and that’s this suggestion of marrying yourself. So what does it imply to marry your self? It’s a significant notion. It’s as gigantic as marriage itself except, if I might just summarize it, it would be that you simply enter right into a relationship with your self and then you definately put a ring on it. (Laughter) In other words, you decide to your self fully. And then you construct a relationship with your self to the factor the place you have an understanding of that you’re whole correct now, that there is no man, woman, job, circumstance that can happen to you that’s going to make you extra whole on account that you already are.And this changes your life. With the aid of now, i’m definite at least some of you might be questioning why you will have to be being attentive to a three-time divorcee speak about marriage? (Laughter) Even to herself. And that i recognize that. This is what I ought to say about that: what I’ve realized and my experience is that the areas where you could have the most important challenges in your life emerge as the areas where you’ve gotten essentially the most to present if you do your internal work. I variety of need to say that again: the locations where you may have the largest challenges are the places the place you’ve probably the most to offer. So let me inform you slightly bit concerning the person I truly wanted to marry: myself. I am from Minneapolis. Wooh! (Laughter) My mother used to be a prostitute and an alcoholic. She put me in foster care after I used to be three months ancient. My dad was a criminal; he was once a drug supplier and a pimp with a heart of gold – without a doubt, they each had hearts of gold – and he spent roughly my whole existence in prison.He simply acquired out of jail after his most recent sentence which was twenty years. Except the age of 9, I was typically in two dozen foster houses. The item you have to know about this story – there are plenty of important points, definitely – however the thing you ought to recognize is that I got here out of that childhood with one purpose: to on no account be left. The way in which I was once going to try this is that I was once going to get married. That used to be the way I was once going to achieve that purpose. So I acquired married the primary time to a man I met once I was once 17. We obtained married a couple of years later, after I was once 19. He was once a rather just right man from a nice household, he had an MBA. I mean, it was once like, you recognize, marriage fabric. You realize, I was once overjoyed.I was like, "i’ve a loved ones. I belong somewhere. That is special." after which after five years I left him. Then ten years later, I got married once more to one more amazing guy, who is the father of my now 16-years-ancient son. We nonetheless have a special relationship. He’s a quite good guy. But after 4 years I left him, too. And i’m not proud to claim that I did that, however with a view to particularly marry your self, you have got to get typically very painfully sincere with your self about what it is that you’ve got achieved.So i’m no longer pleased with that. Then eight years later, I bought married again, after I used to be 40, and i was like, "ok, this feels right!" Let me tell you what felt correct to a lady who used to be in 24 foster properties: a man who started to this point after nine months of marriage; very nearly, he began courting a 21-yr-historic girl. Ok, I mean, it could be funny, if it weren’t so tragic.You have to have a way of… This is the reason we’re facebook friends. So, here i’m watching at this man or woman that I simply described with a terrible monitor record of relationships, and i’m like, "i’m alleged to marry her? This is the woman you want me to marry?" And the answer is yes. Due to the fact right here is the deal: the article about marrying your self is not only like cohabitating. You are now not simply going to this point for a whilst and see the way it turns out.You’re going to do that until demise do you phase. You are going to take vows. So here are the vows. Number 1: you’ll marry yourself for richer or for poorer. This implies you are going to love your self right where you are. You don’t say to your self, "while you get to the corner of Hollywood and Vine, then i will marry you." you do not say, "while you lose ten pounds, then i will love you." And you don’t say, "if you happen to hadn’t married that loser, I would love you, however seeing that you probably did, i’m sorry, I believe it’s over." when you marry yourself, you stroll your self down that aisle precisely where you are. And sarcastically, I discovered that loving myself precisely the place i am is the one way to get the place i’m going. Number 2: you are going to marry your self for higher or for worse. What this means is that almost all of us are inclined to love ourselves for better, I mean, definite, i’m having a exceptional hair day today. I really like me. (Laughter) that’s not what i’m speakme about.I’m speaking about for worse, you know, the tremendous life disappointments. Might be you do not possess a house, you didn’t get the profession you wanted, probably you did not graduate from school, or get the connection you wanted. Probably it hasn’t became out– probably you fight together with your mum, might be you watch too much truth television, something it’s, it doesn’t matter anymore. On the grounds that whilst you marry your self, you agree to stick with you it doesn’t matter what. 1/3, you marry your self in illness and in wellness. What this implies is that you just forgive your self for your errors. A mistake is not actually a failure unless you do not be trained from it and until you do not grow. There’s a saying, "You ask for patience, and what you get is a line on the bank." (Laughter) What that implies is that existence does no longer provide you with what you will have requested for, it gives you the folks, locations, and situations that allow you to boost what you ask for.And the object is that if you don’t get it correct the first time, existence will provide it to you again. (Laughter) considering that lifestyles is very generous that manner. It is like I did not get it the first time, within the first marriage, and that i failed to get it the 2d time, possibly the 1/3 time i’ll get it. So inside of that horrible expertise of that third marriage, I realized anything about "in health problem and in well being". What I learned is how to sit by means of my possess bedside, and how you can maintain my possess hand, and the best way to nurse myself, and easy methods to relief myself.What I realized is that i’m a character that i will be able to depend on. Last however no longer least, you marry yourself– while you marry yourself, it is to have and to maintain yourself. What does it imply to have and to maintain? Good, I feel it signifies that you’re keen on your self the way in which you need any person else to like you. I had at all times been going by means of life with this feel of lack.I felt like I used to be variety of 1/2 a character, and that I was missing whatever. I went into my relationships hoping to resolve this feeling that I had my complete lifestyles: that I was not whole except any individual cherished me. The truth was once that I wasn’t ever going to feel entire until I discovered to love myself. So this business of marrying your self transforms every discipline of your life: your enterprise, family relationships, kids, social relationships, friends. Considering when you marry yourself, this tremendous thing happens: you become competent to love in this whole new approach.You turn out to be capable to like other people right the place they are, for who they’re, the identical approach you’re already loving yourself. And of course, that is what the sector desires more of. So after I married myself, and i realized that I already had the whole lot I needed, I started seeing it as my job to essentially simply remove darkness from my little nook of the arena. That is my new job. When you consider that I don’t want anything, I already have it. So after I take meetings, it is all about how am i able to help this man or woman obtain her intention? When I’m in my social communities, it’s like what can i carry to this that handiest i will be able to carry? After I go on dates, it is like how can i simply detect yet another character perhaps for only one hour which, of course, brings me a full circle. Seeing that individuals normally requested me about my love life; they need to recognize. (Laughter) you already know, the reply is, i am still working on it.Are not all of us? So this is where i am correct now. About three months in the past, I went on a first date. About 30 minutes into the date, I determined myself paying concentration not to whether or not he favored me, however how I felt in his presence. I noticed that I was once light, happy, joking. As I reflected on the date afterwards, I was like, "Wow, I obtained quite excited! Appear, that is how committed i’m to myself." i’m not even on this date trying to get any one to love me. I am extra considering how I feel about me than how he feels about me, no longer considering the fact that i’m egocentric, however due to the fact that the only relationship i am ever going to have with an additional man or woman is the one who i’m already having with myself – simply going to have it with them now.So it became out he preferred me, and we are nonetheless together. It is cool and robust, but i’ve been married 3 times, so gradual down! (Laughter) the article is that i am not seeking to get protection from him by means of marriage, and, God forbid, a youngster carriage. I’m best here to only be in a relationship. I am not dying to hear the phrases, "Will you marry me?" in view that although these phrases are very robust – and really powerful to a character like me – I don’t need them to listen to it from him since i have already heard them from myself.The way I see it’s like I took myself to the highest of a mountain, or maybe to the bottom of the ocean, and i bought down on one knee, and i said, "i’ll not ever go away you." And now i’m married to the one person I quite wanted to be with all alongside, myself. (Applause) thanks. (Applause) .

[batterymonster2021]

The person you really need to marry | Tracy McMillan | TEDxOlympicBlvdWomen

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-person-you-really-need-to-marry-tracy-mcmillan-tedxolympicblvdwomen-4/

The person you really need to marry | Tracy McMillan | TEDxOlympicBlvdWomen

Translator: Nadine Hennig Reviewer: Ilze Garda once I was growing up, there used to be this track we used to sing on the playground, and it went like this, "Tracy and so and so, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes little one in a little one carriage." and i’m like, "adequate, that is it! That’s how you do lifestyles. That is how you do a relationship. Love, marriage, little one carriage. Adequate, acquired it! (Laughter) Then I grew up, and that is what my life grew to become out to be. (Laughter) relatively more elaborate, correct? (Laughter) Love, marriage, divorce, dry spells, love, marriage, co-parenting, yet another marriage, one other divorce; you bought the photo.(Laughter) (Applause) So if you are good at math and/or a quick reader, what you could have acquired there may be that i have been married 3 times. Yep, three, and divorced. What that’s supposed to intend is that i am a whole failure at relationships. And that’s one option to appear at it, but now not the one method. On account that what I feel particularly happened is that I kept marrying the improper person. No, it can be now not that I did not– it can be no longer that I selected dangerous guys. My first two husbands had been effective men who are actually married to unusual females who aren’t me. (Laughter) And my third husband, well, we’re friends on facebook now. So, all is well that ends well, proper? After the give way of my 1/3 marriage in 2005, i realized that i have been marrying everybody in sight, besides the one person that I fairly wanted to marry to be able to have a first-class relationship and that after I married that individual, all of my relationships would be successes, even the disasters.The so-referred to as failures, clearly. Considering we’re talking at present about women inventing, i’m going to speak about inventing relationships. What I’ve located via a lot of trial and certainly, many, many, many blunders, to be the article that has modified my life and love, and that’s this suggestion of marrying yourself. So what does it imply to marry your self? It’s a significant notion. It’s as gigantic as marriage itself except, if I might just summarize it, it would be that you simply enter right into a relationship with your self and then you definately put a ring on it. (Laughter) In other words, you decide to your self fully. And then you construct a relationship with your self to the factor the place you have an understanding of that you’re whole correct now, that there is no man, woman, job, circumstance that can happen to you that’s going to make you extra whole on account that you already are.And this changes your life. With the aid of now, i’m definite at least some of you might be questioning why you will have to be being attentive to a three-time divorcee speak about marriage? (Laughter) Even to herself. And that i recognize that. This is what I ought to say about that: what I’ve realized and my experience is that the areas where you could have the most important challenges in your life emerge as the areas where you’ve gotten essentially the most to present if you do your internal work. I variety of need to say that again: the locations where you may have the largest challenges are the places the place you’ve probably the most to offer. So let me inform you slightly bit concerning the person I truly wanted to marry: myself. I am from Minneapolis. Wooh! (Laughter) My mother used to be a prostitute and an alcoholic. She put me in foster care after I used to be three months ancient. My dad was a criminal; he was once a drug supplier and a pimp with a heart of gold – without a doubt, they each had hearts of gold – and he spent roughly my whole existence in prison.He simply acquired out of jail after his most recent sentence which was twenty years. Except the age of 9, I was typically in two dozen foster houses. The item you have to know about this story – there are plenty of important points, definitely – however the thing you ought to recognize is that I got here out of that childhood with one purpose: to on no account be left. The way in which I was once going to try this is that I was once going to get married. That used to be the way I was once going to achieve that purpose. So I acquired married the primary time to a man I met once I was once 17. We obtained married a couple of years later, after I was once 19. He was once a rather just right man from a nice household, he had an MBA. I mean, it was once like, you recognize, marriage fabric. You realize, I was once overjoyed.I was like, "i’ve a loved ones. I belong somewhere. That is special." after which after five years I left him. Then ten years later, I got married once more to one more amazing guy, who is the father of my now 16-years-ancient son. We nonetheless have a special relationship. He’s a quite good guy. But after 4 years I left him, too. And i’m not proud to claim that I did that, however with a view to particularly marry your self, you have got to get typically very painfully sincere with your self about what it is that you’ve got achieved.So i’m no longer pleased with that. Then eight years later, I bought married again, after I used to be 40, and i was like, "ok, this feels right!" Let me tell you what felt correct to a lady who used to be in 24 foster properties: a man who started to this point after nine months of marriage; very nearly, he began courting a 21-yr-historic girl. Ok, I mean, it could be funny, if it weren’t so tragic.You have to have a way of… This is the reason we’re facebook friends. So, here i’m watching at this man or woman that I simply described with a terrible monitor record of relationships, and i’m like, "i’m alleged to marry her? This is the woman you want me to marry?" And the answer is yes. Due to the fact right here is the deal: the article about marrying your self is not only like cohabitating. You are now not simply going to this point for a whilst and see the way it turns out.You’re going to do that until demise do you phase. You are going to take vows. So here are the vows. Number 1: you’ll marry yourself for richer or for poorer. This implies you are going to love your self right where you are. You don’t say to your self, "while you get to the corner of Hollywood and Vine, then i will marry you." you do not say, "while you lose ten pounds, then i will love you." And you don’t say, "if you happen to hadn’t married that loser, I would love you, however seeing that you probably did, i’m sorry, I believe it’s over." when you marry yourself, you stroll your self down that aisle precisely where you are. And sarcastically, I discovered that loving myself precisely the place i am is the one way to get the place i’m going. Number 2: you are going to marry your self for higher or for worse. What this means is that almost all of us are inclined to love ourselves for better, I mean, definite, i’m having a exceptional hair day today. I really like me. (Laughter) that’s not what i’m speakme about.I’m speaking about for worse, you know, the tremendous life disappointments. Might be you do not possess a house, you didn’t get the profession you wanted, probably you did not graduate from school, or get the connection you wanted. Probably it hasn’t became out– probably you fight together with your mum, might be you watch too much truth television, something it’s, it doesn’t matter anymore. On the grounds that whilst you marry your self, you agree to stick with you it doesn’t matter what. 1/3, you marry your self in illness and in wellness. What this implies is that you just forgive your self for your errors. A mistake is not actually a failure unless you do not be trained from it and until you do not grow. There’s a saying, "You ask for patience, and what you get is a line on the bank." (Laughter) What that implies is that existence does no longer provide you with what you will have requested for, it gives you the folks, locations, and situations that allow you to boost what you ask for.And the object is that if you don’t get it correct the first time, existence will provide it to you again. (Laughter) considering that lifestyles is very generous that manner. It is like I did not get it the first time, within the first marriage, and that i failed to get it the 2d time, possibly the 1/3 time i’ll get it. So inside of that horrible expertise of that third marriage, I realized anything about "in health problem and in well being". What I learned is how to sit by means of my possess bedside, and how you can maintain my possess hand, and the best way to nurse myself, and easy methods to relief myself.What I realized is that i’m a character that i will be able to depend on. Last however no longer least, you marry yourself– while you marry yourself, it is to have and to maintain yourself. What does it imply to have and to maintain? Good, I feel it signifies that you’re keen on your self the way in which you need any person else to like you. I had at all times been going by means of life with this feel of lack.I felt like I used to be variety of 1/2 a character, and that I was missing whatever. I went into my relationships hoping to resolve this feeling that I had my complete lifestyles: that I was not whole except any individual cherished me. The truth was once that I wasn’t ever going to feel entire until I discovered to love myself. So this business of marrying your self transforms every discipline of your life: your enterprise, family relationships, kids, social relationships, friends. Considering when you marry yourself, this tremendous thing happens: you become competent to love in this whole new approach.You turn out to be capable to like other people right the place they are, for who they’re, the identical approach you’re already loving yourself. And of course, that is what the sector desires more of. So after I married myself, and i realized that I already had the whole lot I needed, I started seeing it as my job to essentially simply remove darkness from my little nook of the arena. That is my new job. When you consider that I don’t want anything, I already have it. So after I take meetings, it is all about how am i able to help this man or woman obtain her intention? When I’m in my social communities, it’s like what can i carry to this that handiest i will be able to carry? After I go on dates, it is like how can i simply detect yet another character perhaps for only one hour which, of course, brings me a full circle. Seeing that individuals normally requested me about my love life; they need to recognize. (Laughter) you already know, the reply is, i am still working on it.Are not all of us? So this is where i am correct now. About three months in the past, I went on a first date. About 30 minutes into the date, I determined myself paying concentration not to whether or not he favored me, however how I felt in his presence. I noticed that I was once light, happy, joking. As I reflected on the date afterwards, I was like, "Wow, I obtained quite excited! Appear, that is how committed i’m to myself." i’m not even on this date trying to get any one to love me. I am extra considering how I feel about me than how he feels about me, no longer considering the fact that i’m egocentric, however due to the fact that the only relationship i am ever going to have with an additional man or woman is the one who i’m already having with myself – simply going to have it with them now.So it became out he preferred me, and we are nonetheless together. It is cool and robust, but i’ve been married 3 times, so gradual down! (Laughter) the article is that i am not seeking to get protection from him by means of marriage, and, God forbid, a youngster carriage. I’m best here to only be in a relationship. I am not dying to hear the phrases, "Will you marry me?" in view that although these phrases are very robust – and really powerful to a character like me – I don’t need them to listen to it from him since i have already heard them from myself.The way I see it’s like I took myself to the highest of a mountain, or maybe to the bottom of the ocean, and i bought down on one knee, and i said, "i’ll not ever go away you." And now i’m married to the one person I quite wanted to be with all alongside, myself. (Applause) thanks. (Applause) .

[snarktheater]

Movie review — Power Rangers

Say, did I ever mention I was a Power Rangers kid? Because I was. I was a little too young for the original generation, but when Zeo aired, I was so into it it was kind of embarrassing. I watched as religiously as a small child can when he doesn't know how to VCR a show and has to rely on his parents remembering to record the episodes. I played pretend Power Ranger a lot. I had (and…still have) more toy Megazords than I am fully comfortable listing. And I'm pretty sure I still played with them into my late teenage years, because I am exactly that kind of dork.

Ahem. Point is, a Power Rangers movie reboot came and I was…intrigued, but mildly scared too. This series is not exactly top quality, and the wave of nostalgia-driven adaptations hasn't really led to great stuff that often.

Does the movie hold up? Well, honestly…yes.

Mind you, Power Rangers the movie (does it have a proper name? I wouldn't know) isn't high art or anything. But it's probably better than anyone expected when they heard about this movie in the first place.

This movie does a good job at striking a balance between recreating the original show and doing its own thing. Part of that is due to the media transfer (we can't tell the same kind of story in a show and a movie), but part of that is clearly a creative effort on the part of the crew.

So, the aesthetic is something most people have been critical of. "The suits look bad", and so on and so forth. Honestly, I'm on the fence on this one, but I have to admit that it's the only Power Rangers we could have gotten in 2017. I mean, look at the Flash in those Justice League trailers. This is just what's in vogue. I don't mind the suits, honestly.

No, if we're going to talk bad aesthetics, I have to point out that this movie is another victim of the "MAKE EVERYTHING DARK" trend of this decade. And I don't mean "dark" as in "serious and gritty". The movie has a fairly light tone overall, if you look at it honestly, but the color palette is washed out and the brightness is dialed down way more than it needs to be. That's an issue.

But aside from that, the adaptation strikes in world building as well. And that's actually my favorite part of it. We get backstory for Zordon and Rita (which I fully approve of), they worked in the Zeo Crystal as a plot device that's more than a McGuffin to give the Rangers new powers. Oh, and of course, the Green Power Ranger is already established here (although saved for the potential sequel), and Rita is given a connection to it that she didn't have in the original show. They even thought to explain why the Zords are modeled after prehistoric creatures!

It makes the world feel a lot more cohesive, rather than the "let's just pick a Super Sentai series to adapt and invent a connection" method that formed the plot of the original Power Rangers seasons. Not that I don't understand why the original series had to do it, but it's good to see that they decided to up the storytelling game for the remake instead of relying purely on the franchise name and nostalgia value.

Speaking of storytelling, the plot. After some backstory to the time Rita first wreaked havoc on earth, we skip to present day, and meet our teenagers with attitude, all the while witnessing Rita's return. It's a pretty standard hero's journey, if we have five heroes who stand almost (almost) on equal footing and follow a similar path.

Most of the movie is spent with the Rangers first finding out about their powers, then, once they meet Zordon and Alpha (i.e. the mentor figures), trying to master them. All the while, we cut back to Rita's progress. It's better than it sounds.

Allow me to elaborate. First, we spend a considerable amount of time introducing the protagonists before they're even chosen to be Rangers. Second, they don't just get picked by Zordon; instead, they actively make their way into becoming Rangers, first by finding the Power Coins, then by seeking out answers as to why these coins gave them the abilities they have. Active protagonists! It's important to have them.

Third, while Rita's earlier scenes are fairly standard and mostly serve to establish her motivation, powers (and rules thereof), and the threat she poses, she doesn't stay separate from the Rangers forever. She does clash with them halfway through the second act, gives them a more personal reason to fight than saving the world, all that jazz. Not that they weren't on board beforehand, but it's important.

Because…see, these Rangers have actual characters instead of being blobs who each wears a different color. They have personal conflicts, and while they're not exactly all resolved by the end of the movie (which is probably a tad overconfident by counting on sequels), they do progress. The Rangers make the right decision to save the world, but giving them a personal stake is what gives them resolve to fight the final battle. This is good, it's exactly how you should blend character motivation with heroism.

Speaking of personal conflicts, let's talk about these teenagers for a moment. The phrase "teenagers with attitude" associated with the show (which I already quoted above) is much more applicable here, when…you know, the protagonists actually have issues instead of being perfect role models. I understand that different times mean different sensibilities and I guess the original cast was more palatable to the 90s, but I'm glad about the change.

So we have Jason, the red ranger and leader of the group. He's the gold star athlete student of Angel Grove—big enough to be in the local papers, apparently. His issue is…basically an existential crisis of "is this what I want, or what everyone else wants from me?" Well, kind of. He's already past this issue at the start of the movie, since we meet him in the middle of acting up. I guess his conflict is actually more trying to reconcile the two, putting the things he's good at (i.e. leadership) to the service of something he actually wants to do (being a Power Ranger) instead of something he's expected to do. It works…mostly because he's definitely a little more central than the rest of the crew. Which is a negative point on the movie. I'm sorry, but you have a diverse cast, and you choose to focus on the white boy? Boo.

But on the plus side, this is a conflict we've seen done a lot, and I think this movie manages to do something new with it. Mostly by being more subtle about it. It lets the movie avert clichés (you know, the "No, dad, it's your dream!" speech), and it makes the whole progression feel a lot more natural when it's all understated. When the Rangers bond together, he doesn't even need to say his problem, because everyone knows. Including us. It's almost meta in its self-awareness.

Moving on. Kimberly is the pink ranger, and while I mentioned that all out protagonists are flawed and have conflict, she's the only one who's actually done something bad. In two words: revenge porn. Yeah. It's pretty bad. But…she owns up to having done something terrible, and grows from it. It's sort of put aside rather than actively being resolved, but again, I think this is more because the crew expected sequels. Oh, also, that kiss between her and Jason from the trailer was cut out of the movie. No romance here. Apparently focus tests finally showed that an unnecessary straight romance wasn't something people wanted!

Zack and Trini, the black and yellow rangers, are the least developed members of the team, by virtue of being the last to even show up in the movie. Not that they lack personality, mind you. If anything, them being a little harder to decipher feels intentional, since Zack stays out of school to take care of his sick mother, and Trini is "the new girl" (who's been here a year, but that's just details) and kind of self-ostracized, in a "don't let them in, don't let them see" kind of way.

They're still both pretty enjoyable characters. Zack is the brash comic relief archetype most of the time, but seeing his sweet side with his mother was a nice addition to the trope (also, having him speak Chinese, I approve). Trini is implied to be some shade of not straight, although I think the cries of "yellow ranger is gayyyy" were a bit exaggerated. More importantly, she's the one Rita chooses to go after first because she's more guarded than the others…and Trini does the right thing and ask for her team's help. Just like with Jason, it's a subdued kind of character development that I like a lot. No one goes "wow, you trust us now?" like it's some kind of grand change. She just trusts her team, and the others accept it. I like that. Also, she calls out her younger brothers' casual sexism, that's cool too.

Which leaves us with Billy, who I think is pretty unanimously the audience favorite. One, he's a black autistic guy, unambiguously so, which is already pretty rare. Two, his autism actually feels…you know, real. It's consistent, it shows itself in symptoms that make sense, but it also doesn't define all of Billy's character. His interests are his own, even if they express differently because of his autism. And three, and perhaps most importantly, he's the group's emotional core. That's pretty groundbreaking as far as autistic characters go.

And I don't mean he's the poor autistic kid that everyone feels pity to and therefore stick together to help—he's an active participant in it. He's the one who discovers the Power coins and gets several of the other protagonists involved (he definitely brought Jason, attracted Zack's attention, and I think Trini also followed him to the quarry), he's the first to embrace that they're Rangers and a team and he's the one who works to make everyone else work together. So hey, that was nice.

As for Rita…she's a little bit of a mixed bag. First is the whitewashing issue, on which I will…choose to remain cautiously silent aside from mentioning that, yes, Rita Repulsa was originally portrayed by a Japanese woman by virtue of all her footage being dubbed over from a Japanese show, and the movie cast Elizabeth Banks as her. Make of that what you will.

She is the biggest aesthetic departure from the original, which is partly because of her retconned backstory, but frankly? I think it's probably for the best because of the aforementioned whitewashing. Maybe my standards are low, but at least she's not trying to pretend like she is Machiko Soga at all. If you get my drift. And if you don't: I mean Hollywood loves to pass white people as Japanese (or other Asian ethnicities).

Far from me to claim I have a final say on this issue, of course.

But as a character on her own, I actually liked her a lot. She felt threatening in a way show!Rita never really did, probably because, you know, she actually does things instead of staying cozy on the moon and sending monsters to do her work. They established her powers more clearly, which is good, because rules means we know what she can do and we can feel the threat she poses, instead of having her pull random shit at us.

And yet, in spite of having a more threatening villain (including her underlings) and higher stakes (i.e. world annihilation, more or less), the movie manages to retain its light tone I previously mentioned. Which is…hit or miss (the very first present-day scene includes a particularly tasteless joke, if you ask me), but it's still less cringey than the original show, while keeping with its spirit.

So overall, I'd say the Power Rangers movie is a pretty successful adaptation. If we must keep readapting everything in the name of nostalgia, I hope we get more work like this. I wouldn't be too optimistic about it, though.

[mst3kproject]

Invaders from Space

Apparently 'Earth is saved from incompetent alien invaders by an unattractive bachelor in a stupid superhero costume' was a genre in 60's Japan.  There was Prince of Space, Invasion of the Neptune Men... and here is Invaders from Space, which differs from the other two mostly in that the aliens have different costumes.

So who's menacing the world this week?  Turns out it's the evil Salamander Men of the Planet Kulimon.  Earth is clearly no match for that, so the Emerald Men (whose planet is stated to be two billion miles from us – significantly closer than Pluto) send Star Man and his nifty translator-wristwatch to deal with the situation.  What follows is... episodic, to say the least.  Like Time of the Apes or Mighty Jack, it's been patched together from multiple installments of a series.

In my first draft of this review, I tried to describe the whole plot blow-by-blow in order to emphasize the strangeness and choppy feel of it.  That quickly got way too long, though, so I'll summarize: the Salamander Men attack the Earth with a variety of super-weapons, including a deadly disease, a sound so annoying it melts brains, and a magic wand that changes the Earth's orbit.  Human scientists work very hard to find solutions to these problems, while Star Man just goes around having badly-choreographed pretend fights with whatever nests of Salamanders he can find.

Believe me, that doesn't begin to capture this movie.  Invaders from Space exists on a Robot Monster-like level of illogical storytelling.  The Salamander Men make Phantom of Krankor look like a tactical genius and the Buttplug-Headed Neptunians look well-organized.  We have no idea why they want to invade the Earth, besides a one-off reference to it being 'the richest planet in the universe' – what does that even mean?  Their bio-weapon is a disease spread by dancing.  Their bases on Earth are a giant egg at the bottom of the ocean and a 'castle' that looks like a geegaw you'd buy at a cheap ripoff of Disney's Enchanted Tiki Hut. They hypnotize people by breathing fire at them and escape fight scenes by jumping into the water and exploding.  What am I supposed to say about that?

Star Man himself doesn't make any more sense.  He's a slightly paunchy early-middle-aged guy with panty lines and his nipples visible right through his costume.  His 'ability to disguise himself as an Earthling' is supposedly supernatural but seems to just consist of him putting on a suit and tie.  He's got an antenna on his head that recieves signals from a crystal ball.  All the fight scenes between him and the Salamander men alternate between looking like a circus act or like a couple of broke cosplayers who can't agree on whether Joel or Mike was the best host... when they're not just circling each other as if they're about to tango.

The entire film has a 'then this happened... and then this happened...' kind of feeling to it, as if it's about a series of events that aren't necessarily connected to each other.  Nothing ever seems to escalate, and plot points like the alien disease and a salamander scale some kids find in their house are just forgotten about and never dealt with again.  One kid hallucinates a thunderstorm and this is never explained.  All this makes the movie feel much longer than the seventy-five minutes it actually is, because there's no sense of it going anywhere.  When Star Man punches out Orlando the Super-Salamander underwater and makes him explode (look, I know that sounds like something that would happen in Spongebob Squarepants but I swear to you, it's in this movie) it feels like that ought to be the end, but then we have the attack on the Tiki Geegaw and the movie goes on for another several minutes.

One possible reason for some of these narrative problems is that Invaders from Space is really two episodes of the Super Giants series of short films.  A total of nine minutes was left on the cutting room floor, which may have contained something important, and yet I have a hard time imagining what it could be. After all, if the 'alien disease' plot got a proper ending, why would they cut that while leaving the bizarre dance numbers?  Same with the lost salamander scale... but that plot point is so much smaller than the disease one that I can't imagine why they left it in if it didn't get an ending.  Maybe it had something to do with convincing the scientists that they're facing an alien invasion, which is only a theory in the first part of the movie and then becomes an accepted fact in the second.

What's that you say?  Your brain is stuck on 'dance numbers'?  Yeah, there are a couple of those.  One is some weird tribal thing with fire sticks that the Salamander Men do around three captured children, for no apparent reason besides to terrify them.  The other is the dance show they putting on as a way of spreading their disease, which looks like something a bunch of undergraduate performing arts majors put together and thought was deep and meaningful.  The scientists conclude that dancers with such superhuman agility can only be space creatures, but the actual performance isn't anything special.  There isn't even any wirework to substitute for special.

The hooks where the wires attach to Star Man's back and ass in the flying scenes are clearly visible, by the way.

That brings us to the shoddy and ridiculous costuming.  Star Man's outfit looks like he made it in his basement.  The Salamander Men are more elaborate, with lots of scales and antennae and big lenses over their eyes, but still silly and made of fabric that could have come from the Japanese equivalent of Joann's.  Parts of them have glitter on them.  There were at least a dozen full costumes made for things like the big fights and the scenes in the Salamander Council Chamber, but at times that was still not enough and they had to fall back on the Attack of the The Eye Creatures technique of wearing just the head with a black bodysuit. Shockingly, they had even less shame about this, too – the head-only The Eye Creatures at least stayed behind the bushes, but the head-only Salamander Men are right out in the open.

One thing I can say about Invaders from Space is that the children in it aren't too annoying.  They actually go to the adults when necessary instead of trying to do everything themselves, and they aren't automatically experts on the goings-on like they would be in a Gamera movie.  There's even a pretty awesome bit where one of the kids, having been told that throwing the crystal ball on the ground will summon Star Man, decides to get extra milage out of it by throwing it on the ground via a Salamander Man's teeth.

So the movie is terrible, but like Prince of Space or Robot Monster it's just plain weird enough to be kind of mesmerizing.  There are bits that are insufferably boring, but other parts are laugh-out-loud funny.  There were multiple moments when I thought I'd found the perfect stinger for the end of the hypothetical MST3K episode, only to have it topped a few minutes later.  My current choice would be the part where the Salamander Men summon their greatest scientist to stop the Earth's rotation by waving their arms and chanting what sounds like, “Orlando, Come!” but that'll probably change the next time I watch the movie.  I mean, there's also that amazing bit where one of them sighs and says, in a disappointed voice, “I thought we were indestructible... but we're not.”

I'm not sure if there's any actual analysis that can be done on this movie.  If Invaders from Space has anything to say, it's buried too deep in the weird shit for me to tease it out.  One thing I did learn from looking the film up on Wikipedia is that Star Man's Japanese name is Super Giants, which is weird because there's only one of him and he appears to be no more than slightly tallish. Also, the Salamander Men are called Kapia-Seijin, or Kappa-People.  A 'kappa' is a Japanese water monster, said to be scaly with large eyes and webbed feet, that lives in swamps and lures people in to drown.  I can certainly see the resemblance between that and the Salamander Men, and possibly some of the stranger things they do originate in odd bits of kappa mythology.

(Speaking of odd bits of kappa mythology, the Wikipedia page for the creature includes a Japanese woodcut that appears to show an old man driving kappa away by farting at them.  I'm glad that wasn't in the movie.)

I suppose one thing we can get from this movie is that while the Emerald Men and Star Man may be our super-powered protectors, even they couldn't save the Earth alone.  The final blow was delivered by the humans, after we discovered that Salamander Men melt when exposed to copper sulfate (I choose to believe that the puddles left behind afterwards are bright blue).  The aliens, like the gods, help those who help themselves.

In the final analysis I'm not sure whether I'd recommend this one or not.  I still haven't made up my mind if I like it or not, never mind whether anybody else will.  It's not enjoyable in the way true bad movie classics like Space Mutiny and Starcrash are, where you just laugh your way through the whole thing.  At the same time, it's definitely not Monster A-Go-Go unwatchably dull, either.  If you like weird Japanese movies, you'll probably want to take a look at it – if you don't, avoid it like the dancing Salamander plague.